The Will of Fire: Kindling the Flame
by Star of the West
Summary: Narumi Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, and Saburo Haruno have just graduated from the academy. They have now taken the first step on the path that will lead them into the adventure of a lifetime. The journey of team seven and their comrades has begun.
1. Team Assignment

__**Hello all. I'm star (because my full username is a bit of a mouthful to introduce myself with). This is my first story, so go easy on me, ok? I'm not sure how well this going to turn out. This story is going to involve gender-bending. I'll admit, I wasn't too keen on the idea, but I've recently come across a few works that involved gender-bending which I love. So I ended up being inspired, and this is the resulting brainchild. (Remember, it's my firstborn, so go easy on the tyke). It won't be a full on gender bending though. Only some of the characters are switching to the other side, not all of them. Hope you enjoy reading!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If I did my artwork would be much better, and this wouldn't be posted on the internet as fan fiction.**

**Warning: Gender-bending, and slightly OC characters.**

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><p>Sasuke Uchiha was bored. He was more than ready to be done with this academy nonsense. His onyx eyes were closed, his face half hidden behind his interlaced fingers. Ikuye-sensei, the female academy teacher who had been responsible for them up to this point was speaking in the front of the class. Her warm, familiar voice slid reassuringly over him, a gentle current of sound that calmed him into patience. "You are now genin, first level ninja. All genin will be grouped into three man squads, led by a jounin." Sasuke's eyes slid open in interest.<p>

All around him he could hear the soft murmuring that indicated similar reactions in his former classmates. A three man squad was it? That would obviously only slow him down! He sighed quietly in irritation and wondered who he'd end up in a squad with. Not that it really mattered of course, as long as they didn't get in his way too badly. No one would stop him from becoming stronger.

The other new genin were likewise speculating about these teams, and who would be placed together. Ikuye-sensei ignored this and continued her speech. "We want each squad to be well-balanced in strength and abilities, so that's how we set them up." Lifting her list, she glanced down, and started calling out names. Sasuke tuned her out until he heard his own name.

"Squad seven; Sasuke Uchiha," Sasuke perked up, dark eyes lifting to his soon to be former sensei, interested to hear his team assignment. "Saburo Haruno," The boy in question shot out of his seat with an excited cheer. His rosy hair was short and wild, flopping messily over his jade green eyes, and and complimenting his pale skin. He wore a red sleeveless shirt, dark maroon pants that gather in at the ankle, his headband tied tightly around his upper arm, and bandages wrapped around his hands, and up his wrists. Saburo was well known for his intense hero worship of Sasuke, and the Uchiha had to suppress an irritated sigh. The last thing he needed was some deluded boy following him around.

"and Narumi Uzumaki, will form team seven." Saburo froze in mid cheer, mouth open, even as the girl in question glanced sideways at him. She had bright gold hair woven into a loose braid that hung past her shoulders with bangs that fell wildly across the metal plate of her headband, tan skin, impossibly blue eyes, a stubborn chin, and strange whisker like marks on her face. She wore an orange and blue jacket with three-quarter sleeves open over a black shirt emblazoned with an orange swirl twining up into a stylized flame, with orange capris. A faint blush was hovering across her cheeks and nose. Everyone knew that Narumi was head over heels for Saburo.

Turning to the list, Iruka continued announcing the teams. "Next, squad eight; Hirohito Hyuuga," The boy in question jerked, his pale lavender eyes tearing away from Narumi, who he'd been watching with a vague expression of wistful longing, and he looked towards Iruka with a quiet "Yes, sir."

Hirohito was the heir of the Hyuuga clan, and a quiet, calm-natured boy. He had straight blue-black hair that fell gracefully to his chin, framing the delicate, aristocratic caste of his features, and emphasizing his pale Hyuuga eyes. He wore a thick tan jacket with a hood open over a gray shirt, long dark grey pants, and his headband was loosely tied around his neck. The boy was known for being completely unable to deal with girls, and Sasuke suspected that the Hyuuga had a serious crush on his new female teammate.

"Kira Inuzuka," That one was a classic Inuzuka, complete with the red fang markings slashing down over her cheeks. Her companion pup lay with easy familiarity on her head of boyishly short, wild spikes of brown hair, and she looked up with a triumphant chuckle, his eyes sliding open to reveal the slit pupils of her black eyes as her fangs flashed subtly in the light. She wore a fur-lined purple-gray jacket open over a tight gray shirt, and black shorts, along with knee high fur-lined combat boots. Her new headband was tied casually over her hips, and hung at an angle, the light casting a wavering sheen across its metal surface.

"and Shinako Aburame." The Aburame girl was just a bit unnerving, and Sasuke spared a moment to be glad he'd avoided her team, at the same time surprised that a team got two girls. Normally there was one kunoichi per team, assigned with two male teammates. The girl in question lifted a finger to re-adjust her sunglasses. Her tousled hair was also cut boyishly short, but was much bushier than Kira's. She wore thick clothes that covered her from nose to wrists and ankles, with very little of her actual skin or shape showing and a pair of sunglasses to hide her eyes. In fact, some of the students at the academy had long speculated on whether or not Shinako was actually a girl. That, along with her quiet nature and ability to enter and leave rooms without others noticing, and she was regarded with a certain amount of befuddled unease by the other students.

"Now squad ten; Inori Yamanaka," The cocky boy peered up at his sensei through the fall of his platinum-blonde forelock with anticipation, pale turquoise eyes gleaming under strong brows, a faint smirk hovering around his mouth. He wore a dark plum colored body suit, with a short-sleeved jacket open over it, dark blue gauntlets on his hands, and standard combat sandals. He was Saburo's best friend and rival, as well as a known lady-killer who had reportedly flirted with nearly every girl in the academy. Including the teachers.

"Shika Nara" Inori's eyes went to her instantly. Shika Nara was something of a puzzle. She was quite attractive, a slender girl with dark eyes, and shoulder length curly hair that she pulled back into a high, shaggy ponytail. A few strands always slipped free here and there to frame her face enticingly, relaxing the severity the style might otherwise have given her. She wore a tan shirt under a green and light gray half jacket, along with a brown skirt over deep brown skirt over gray shorts, and her headband was tied around the sleeve of her jacket. Despite her attractiveness, she never paid attention to boys or her looks, professed to find everything troublesome, and managed to stay off the academy's popularity radar. She blinked lazily at Ikuye-sensei as her name was called, ignoring the scrutiny of her new teammate.

"and Choji Akimichi." The boy was busy chowing down on a bag of chips, as usual. How he'd passed any of the physical exams or combat tests was beyond Sasuke, as the lump never seemed to stop eating. Inori glanced at the other boy briefly before returning to his study of his new female teammate. Shika, for her part, exchanged a quiet nod with Choji. The two of them had been best friends for years. Despite much teasing from the other academy girls, that was truly all there was to it. However their friendship was quite strong.

Ikuye dropped the list and looked up at them all with a smile, ignoring the various reactions to her announcments. Then Narumi suddenly stood up. Her face was still lightly tinted with the remnants of her blush at discovering she'd be on Saburo's team, but her voice was indignant when she spoke, her finger thrusting dramatically towards Sasuke. "Sensei! Why do I have to be on a team with HIM?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes, and glanced away, eyes landing briefly on Saburo as the other boy leaned forward slightly to glare warningly at the girl. Ikuye-sensei closed her eyes as if asking for patience, and huffed impatiently. "The teams are supposed to be balanced Narumi. Sasuke is the top of the class. As dead LAST, you obviously balance him out. This is non-negotiable."

The class around them erupted into chuckles, or even outright laughter at the assessment. Sasuke was surprised to note that while Saburo looked amused, there was also faint disapproval hovering quietly on his face as he glanced around at their classmates. Shrugging, he dismissed the moment, and glanced over at the blonde in a bored manner. "Just make sure you don't get in my way...dobe." The girl swung around to face him, her lips curling back in a growl. "Hey, what was that, teme?" He looked away from her again, his voice still uninterested and dismissive. "What, are you deaf too?" The class erupted into laughter again, and Saburo glared up at the girl. "Narumi, sit down already! You're embarrassing us!"

The blonde dropped heavily back into her seat, glaring furtively over at Sasuke, her blush having deepened to a dull red at the open disapproval from the object of her affections. Saburo leaned back heavily in his seat next to Sasuke with an irritated roll of his eyes. "Ugh. Why did it have to be NARUMI of all people?" Sasuke snorted and ignored them both.

Neither would be worth bothering with, as he was superior to both. Saburo was a dense fool who was annoying in his admiration, and Narumi was the worst student in the entire academy, disgustingly loud and obnoxious, known for wild declarations of her ambition to become the hokage, and quite smitten with Saburo. At best, his teammates were a crazed and bookish fan, and a lovestruck loud-mouth tomboy. They were nothing but obstacles to be overcome in his quest for strength.

Ikuye-sensei cleared her throat, and finished up by saying that their jounin sensei would be coming by to pick them up after lunch. After that they were dismissed for the remainder of the morning and lunch. Sasuke closed his eyes, ignoring the chatter of the other students as he settled in to wait.

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><p>Time passed and jounin came and went. Teams trickled out, until only team seven was left. More time passed, and Sasuke grew more and more irritated. Apparently his idiot teammates shared the sentiment. Saburo had climbed out to stand beside the desk, leaning casually against it with his arms braced on the desk behind him. His eyes were closed, and his face was quiet, but his eyebrows were furrowed with impatience.<p>

Narumi had also left her seat, and was standing with crossed arms, practically throwing off sparks in her irritation. "He's late!" Sasuke's eyes slid open and he glanced over at the girl. Yes, their new sensei was quite blatantly late. What did she think stating the obvious would do for her exactly? After a minute, she grabbed an eraser from the chalkboard, pulled a chair over to the doorway, climbed up, and rigged herself a simplistic booby trap by wedging the eraser between the door and the doorjamb. Sasuke raised an eyebrow, internally scoffing at her stupidity. No jounin would ever fall for that.

Saburo rolled his eyes, and his voice cool and disdainful. "What do you think you're doing Narumi?" She hopped down and moved the chair back to Ikuye-sensei's desk. "Taking care of payback." Saburo sighed. "We don't need our new sensei getting angry at us on our first day. Plus, there's no way he'll fall for that! You're so clueless!" Narumi shifted and glanced at the green eyed boy, her jaw set defiantly. "They deserve it for being so late!" Saburo shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest. "Che. You're such a bratling. It's on your head." Just then, the sliding door was pulled open as a shaggy grey head poked through the doorway. And the eraser came down with a hearty clunk, and a puff of white dust, squarely on his head.

Sasuke stared at him, stunned and disgusted by the man's lack of reaction time. Saburo jumped and uncertainly and asked if the man was alright, insisting that he hadn't been able to stop Narumi, though his green eyes were glinting with triumph. Narumi grinned her signature wild grin, tossed her head, and crossed her arms confidently over her chest with a bright laugh.

Their sensei glanced downward at the eraser with the one eye not covered by his lopsided headband. Then he reached down and picked it up, not even glancing at them. "Hm, how can I put this? My first impression of the three of you...you're a bunch of idiots." Sasuke dropped his head, his shoulders stiffening in shock. "Well, then let's meet up on the roof, shall we?" Then he vanished in a puff of smoke.

The three of them made their way out onto the roof, and over to where their new sensei was leaning against the railing. The other two took seats on the lower of the two steps leading down to wear their sensei was standing. Sasuke sat down between them with his feet on their step, lacing his hands in front of his face and locking his gaze on his sensei. "Alright, why don't you introduce yourselves?" His voice was incredibly bored, and Sasuke couldn't see any indication of actual interest in the man.

Saburo frowned and asked him what he meant. "Things you like, things you hate, dreams for the future, hobbies...things like that." Narumi cocked her head. "Why don't you talk first. I mean, before we talk, you could tell us stuff about you so we know how to do it right." Saburo nodded once firmly, and Sasuke glanced at her for a minute, slightly impressed. It was a good plan. This way they'd get some more information on this mysterious new sensei of theirs.

The man shrugged, and started to speak. "Me? I'm Kakashi Hatake. Things I like, and things I hate...I don't really feel like telling you that. Dreams for the future...never really thought about it. As for my hobbies...uh...I have a lot of hobbies. Now you." Saburo and Narumi exchanged a flat glare, and Saburo murmured angrily. "In other words, he didn't really tell us anything but his name." Narumi inclined her head once, clearly bewildered by the man. Sasuke had to agree with them there. What a hypocrite.

The man gestured at Saburo first, indicating that he should go first. Visibly shaking off his irritation, Saburo smiled boyishly up at the man, his arms draped over his knees as he leaned forward. "My name is Saburo Haruno. What I like is...well the person I admire is Sasuke Uchiha. My hobby is studying. My dream for the future is to be the smartest ninja in the village!" As he said this, he scratched the back of his head, his eyes closing from the breadth of his smile.

Kakashi watched him for a minute, and then prompted. "And? What about things you hate?" The smile faltered a bit, and the rosette looked thoughtful. "I guess...shinobi who are weak or useless."

Kakashi sat quietly for a minute, then turned to Narumi. "Alright then, what about you?" She lifted her chin, oozing confidence and determination. "I'm Narumi Uzumaki! What I like is ramen! What I dislike is Sasuke Uchiha! My hobby is training to get stronger! And I'm going to become Hokage!" Sasuke snorted quietly. Narumi had been trumpeting that she was going to be Hokage for ages. Idiot. She'd obviously never make it. But at least she wasn't a member of his fan club. Having to deal with a fangirl day-to-day would have been annoying. Though liking Saburo...well there was no accounting for taste. Kakashi eyed her for a long minute, then looked up at Sasuke.

"What about you?" Sasuke looked up at him darkly over his interlaced fingers. "My name, is Sasuke Uchiha. I hate a lot of things, and I don't particularly like anything. What I have is not a dream, because I WILL accomplish it! I will kill a certain person, and rebuild my clan!"

There was a long silence after he spoke. The other two looked at him with wide eyes. Sasuke eyed the jounin grimly. Wasn't expecting that, was he? Kakashi looked at him intently for a moment, and then moved on. "Good. You're each unique, with your own ideas and strengths. We'll have our first mission tomorrow."

Narumi looked up excitedly. "What kind of mission is it?" The jounin looked down at her from behind his lopsided headband for a moment before answering. "A survival exercise." Narumi looked up at him confused, and Saburo protested. "We've already done all this at the academy, aren't we supposed to go on real missions now?" Kakashi never changed his cool tone. "This is not like the training you underwent at the academy." Narumi cocked her head, half confused and half excited. "So what kind of training is it then?"

Kakashi chuckled ominously, and Sasuke felt his spine tighten, his muscles tensing in worry...no in anticipation. Uchiha do not worry. Saburo narrowed his eyes, suspicion glinting in his gaze. "Hey, that's a pretty normal question. Why are you laughing?" The man answered in a sing-song voice. "Well, if I tell you the answer, you're not going to like it." Then he leaned forward, his lone visible eye going dead serious, and scornful. "Of the twenty seven graduates from the academy this year, only nine will actually become konoha genin. The other eighteen will be weeded out and sent back to the academy. Most of those will probably give up on becoming ninja and return to civilian life. In other words, this is a make it or break it pass fail test that you MUST pass if you're going to become a ninja. And there's more than a sixty percent chance that you will fail."

Narumi recoiled in horror, temporarily mute with shock, and Saburo turned slightly green. Sasuke just glared. Of course he wasn't going to fail, he was an Uchiha. Maybe the idiots would have trouble, but he WOULD be passing this test. "So you see, wether or not you become a konoha genin is entirely in my hands. That's the way it is. Be at the designated training ground at five a.m. tomorrow. Oh, and don't eat breakfast. You'll only throw up." As the three of them each tensed, the man stood and turned away. "That's it, you're dismissed." And then he was gone, in a quick swirl of smoke.


	2. The Bell Test

The next morning, Sasuke met the others at the training ground Kakashi-sensei had specified. Narumi was more than half-asleep on her feet, scrubbing blearily at her eyes, while Saburo was leaning heavily against a nearby tree, his eyes drooping and his head nodding dangerously. The three of them stood together in the half light of the breaking dawn as it strengthened, and slowly the half dawn turned to full daylight. Hours passed, and Saburo and Narumi had both sat down and were grumbling about the lateness of their sensei.

When the man finally showed up, Narumi and Saburo leapt up to shout indignantly at him in unison. Sasuke eyed the jounin with extreme irritation, silently seconding the screeching of his imbecile teammates. Kakashi airily waved off the cries of his students, giving them a rambling excuse about getting lost on the path of life, before finally getting around to telling them about the exercise.

The object of the exercise was to get a bell from Kakashi-sensei. If they didn't get one by noon, they wouldn't get any lunch. They would be tied to the posts in the center of the training ground, and forced to watch Kakashi eat his lunch. Sasuke glared at the man for a moment, feeling his stomach rumble. Then Saburo cocked his head. "Wait a minute, there's three of us. How come there's only two bells?" Kakashi smiled, his lone visible eye crinkling shut above his mask. "Well, that way at least one of you will end up tied to a post and ultimately disqualified for failing to complete the mission. That one goes back to the academy. Then again, all three of you could flunk out too." Narumi growled, and Sasuke glared, his muscles tensing. "You can use any weapons, including shuriken. If you're not prepared to kill me, you won't be able to take the bells." So saying, he tossed the bells up, and then caught them in his clenched fist. Sasuke narrowed his eyes angrily at the man. He hated that smug confidence, the calm strength that boldly stated that Sasuke had no chance against him.

Saburo exclaimed, horrified "Those weapons are way too dangerous! What if you get hurt?" Saburo had always been a bookish type. He might have topped Sasuke's scores in the written exams, but he'd never come close to his weapons and combat scores. Narumi, on the other hand, put her hands behind her head and laughed. "Especially since you couldn't even dodge that eraser." Kakashi's dark eyes cut to Narumi and when he spoke, his tone was harsh, and scornful. "Class clowns are usually the weakest links. You can safely ignore them. Always have the lowest scores. Losers." Narumi growled unhappily in her throat, dropping her hands and shifting to a more steady stance. Sasuke mentally snorted. She'd set herself up for that, the fool. However, it was odd that their sensei would goad her like that... Kakashi looked away from her, and continued. "When I say start, you can begin."

Before he could say anything else, Narumi yanked out a shuriken, and charged him with a growling snarl. Sasuke's eyes flicked towards her for an instant, not expecting the sudden attack. However, before he could take any action whatsoever, the silver haired jounin suddenly appeared directly behind Narumi, halting her advance by reaching out and grabbing her as she charged.

Sasuke and Saburo both yanked back and stared in horror. Kakashi was standing still as a stone behind their kunoichi teammate, positioned between the two of them. One hand roughly gripped her golden head, holding it in place, while the other was wrapped around her small fist on the hilt of her shuriken, holding the razor tip at the base of her skull as he twisted her arm up behind her. When he spoke, his voice was deceptively mild despite the deadly hold he had her in. "Don't be in such a hurry. I didn't say go yet." Narumi didn't even falter, grunting angrily, apparently un-phased by the deadly grip her sensei had on her. Sasuke nervously backed up a pace, Saburo mirroring him. Then Kakashi let go of Narumi, allowing her to step forward and out of his hold. A bright red hand shaped mark wrapped around her wrist, and her free hand came over to rub at it as she moved forward. Sasuke's eyebrows came down, and his eyes flicked back to Kakashi. _So, this IS a jounin._ As Narumi moved away from her attacker, Saburo shifted half a step closer to her, his expression uncertain and his eyes still fixed on the man in front of him. Kakashi ignored both Sasuke and Saburo, his eyes fixed on Narumi. "But... you came at me with the full intent of destroying me. So, how can I say this?" Sasuke and Saburo glared at him suspiciously as he searched for words, Narumi fixing him with a nervous grin, though her eyes were sharp and wary. "I'm actually starting to like you guys." Then he looked squarely at all three of them, and said "Get ready." Sasuke tensed, bending his knees in preparation to spring away, his entire body quivering. His teammates were in a similar state. "And...start!" With that, Sasuke sprang up and to the right. The other two both went in different directions, and the test had begun.

Sasuke hid in the tree branches at the edge of the clearing, carefully observing Kakashi. He knew Saburo and Narumi must be somewhere nearby as well. This was a basic ninja skill, hiding yourself and observing your target, waiting for the opportune moment to strike. It was only natural that the three academy graduates would be in hiding. Which was, of course, why he really shouldn't have been surprised when the dead last decided to through common sense out the window and do something stupid. The blonde dobe marched out into the center of the clearing behind Kakashi, and planted herself there, arms crossed, legs set in a wide stance, and a cocky grin on her face. "Come on, I'll fight ya right now!" Sasuke stared blankly. He couldn't believe this. That dobe couldn't possibly be serious.

Kakashi cocked his head, and after a minute he said. "You know...you're a little weird..." The girl squinted at him with a half frown. "Huh. The only thing weird here is your haircut!" Then she ran at him. Kakashi looked at her calmly, then slid one hand into his shuriken pouch. Narumi checked her charge and jumped back, eyeing him suspiciously but not giving so much as an inch. Sasuke focused intently on the fight, holding his breath. This girl had to be insane! Then Kakashi pulled out a perverted looking book. Narumi's eyes about bugged out of her head. "What the-?" Sasuke stiffened in shock, and nearly lost his grip on the branch he had perched himself on. What sort of a sensei had he gotten? Kakashi looked at her evenly, his voice unchanged. "What are you waiting for? Go on and attack." Narumi blushed a brilliant red, and her mouth worked a bit before she managed to get what she was trying to say out. "But...but...I mean...why are you reading that book?" Kakashi didn't even look up from the thing. "Why? To find out what happens in the story of course. Don't let it bother you, I'll still be able to handle you easily." Narumi's eyebrows snapped down, a vein pulsing angrily in her temple as her entire being vibrating with rage. Reaching over, she shoved up one of her sleeves, and charged him. "I'M GOING TO CRUSH YOU, DAMN HENTAI!" Pulling back her fist, she threw herself into a back fist that Kakashi caught with ease. Then she used the momentum of the strike to swing around into a kick. Kakashi released her and ducked, allowing her to sail over his head. As soon as she hit the ground, she swiveled, and sprang up, her fist flying forward in a straight jab. However, her fist came to a halt in empty air. Narumi blinked uncertainly. "Wh-what?" Kakashi had vanished, only to reappear behind her. His book was tucked under his arm, and he'd brought his hands together in a tiger chakra seal. "Don't let your enemy get behind you all the time."

Sasuke frowned at the scene in front of him with growing concern as he recognized the seal. _That's used in fire jutsu. He's not just toying with her...he's actually going to destroy her..._ He tensed, wondering if he should try to intervene. As he did, he heard Saburo shoot to his feet somewhere below him and cry out, voice horrified. "Narumi! Get out of there! He's going to-" Narumi half turned in the direction of Saburo's voice, but before she could act, or either of the boys could move to help her, Kakashi spoke. "Too late." Then he shot forward, and planted his fingers in her lower back, shoving viciously out and up, throwing her high into the air. Narumi yelped in pain as her spine arched, clenching her eyes shut and twisting her body as she sailed through the air, and splashed noisily into the river. Sasuke winced but relaxed, letting out his breath in a combination of relief and annoyance. It had been nothing more than a weird, if painful looking, taijutsu move, not a fire style jutsu. As the tension eased from his shoulders, he murmured quietly to himself. "Nothing but a couple of idiots."

Kakashi pulled his book back out, and leafed back to his spot. Sasuke waited a minute, then his hand twitched towards his shuriken pouch, wondering if this might be his perfect opportunity to attack. Before he could do anything though, two shuriken burst out of the river, speeding towards Kakashi. Sasuke reared bak in shock. Of course, the Jounin caught them easily. As he did, Narumi broke the surface of the water, and slowly hauled herself out of the river, soaked and gasping for air as she pulled herself up onto the bank. Kakashi looked down at her with boredom. "What are you doing now? You know you won't get lunch if you can't take a bell by noon." She glared up at him. "I know, I know. But you told us not to eat breakfast. How can I fight when I'm starving to death?" Sasuke's own stomach chose that moment to remind him of his own hunger, and he grimaced. He wouldn't say no to some food himself.

Kakashi looked upwards as if asking for patience, and turned to walk away. As he did, Narumi glared at him. "I'm gonna pass this test. No matter what." The surface of the river behind her rippled, undulated, and suddenly eight clones erupted from the water. Kakashi looked over his shoulder in mild surprise as they soared towards him, golden braids flying and scattering droplets of water through the air, orange jackets snapping wetly in the wind. Sasuke's eyes widened as he eyed them. Those weren't images, they were...real? He leaned forward a bit, fascinated. Kakashi sighed. "You talk like you're the best Narumi, but you're still the dead-last student. You can't beat me with this justsu..." Suddenly a clone seized Kakashi from behind. Kakashi started, and looked back over his shoulder at the fiercely grinning girl, his lone eye widening in surprise. Sasuke thought for a moment that she had him, his mouth sliding open in astonishment. As the clones leapt in to attack, a slight smile quirked at Sasuke's lips. _A diversionary tactic followed by a pincer maneuver...nice. _

Suddenly Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving the Narumi's surrounding a clone clutching a log. Narumi looked around wildly, indignantly protesting that this was cheating. The smile slid from Sasuke's face and he heaved a sigh, settling back, his expression returning to normal. "He got you with kawamari, loser." Of course the dead last dobe wouldn't be able to lay a hand on a jounin, however odd he might be. Narumi had dispelled her clones by now, and was standing uneasily in the center of the clearing. Suddenly, a ray of sunlight glinted of of something not far from her, lying a the base of a tree. A bell. Narumi crowed excitedly, thinking that their sensei had dropped one in his escape. Sasuke's eyes widened. Surely the jounin wouldn't be dumb enough to... Narumi went right over to the thing. In the next instant, a rope loop tightened around her ankles, and she was yanked into the air to dangle upside down above the bell. Or should he say, the bait for the trap. Sasuke's expression tightened. _That jounin doesn't let down his guard, even when he's fighting a fool like Narumi._ Kakashi stepped out of hiding, reached down, and plucked the bell from underneath Narumi. He sighed and glanced up at her. "A word of advice? If the bait is obvious...don't take it. A ninja must see through deception." Narumi glared and thrashed. "I. Get. It." Kakashi shook his head slightly. "No, you don't get it. You only think you get it. Get it?"

As he lectured Narumi, Sasuke sensed an opening in his guard. His dark eyes shot open, his hand dipped quickly into his shuriken pouch. _This is my chance!_ With a quick gesture, he flung a handful of the deadly, razor sharp weapons into the air. They hurtled towards the Jounin, curving around to hide their point of origin, and struck him full in the side, throwing him away from Narumi. The girl cried out in shock, and immediately twisted her head to look directly at Sasuke's hiding place. "Hey! Sasuke-teme, you went too far!" Sasuke looked back at her for an instant in shock. _How did she know I was here?_ Then his eyes snapped back to Kakashi, just in time to see...a blast of smoke that left behind a shuriken riddled log. Sasuke swore and darted away from his former hiding spot, moving deeper into the forest. He had to move and fast, or that jounin was going to find him. He had managed to get some distance between him and the clearing when he heard it. A horrified cry, coming from somewhere off to the side of him in the forest "NO!" Sasuke's eyes narrowed slightly as he recognized the voice. Saburo. Stopping in a smaller clearing, Sasuke half-turned to look over his shoulder in the direction of the noise, wondering what could have happened.

Kakashi's voice came floating out of the trees, with the same mild tone he had used this whole time. "Genjutsu. Saburo fell for it easily, despite having studied it in class." Sasuke narrowed his eyes, turning fully into a fighting stance. _Illusions, huh? I'm not surprised he caught Saburo like that. But-_ "I'm not like those two." Kakashi chuckled slightly, and his voice came to rest behind the genin. "Say that after you get the bells, Sasuke-kun." Sasuke whirled to face him as the man walked towards him. Then he launched shuriken at the man, forcing him sideways as he cut the rope that released his previously set up trap and sent yet more shuriken flying at the jounin. Kakashi leaped away, and as he landed, Sasuke attacked him with a kick. Kakashi blocked it and caught his ankle in one hand. Sasuke grunted, and swung his body around to punch. Kakashi caught that too. Once both hands were occupied, Sasuke used the last of his momentum to swing himself around, and use his free leg to kick towards Kakashi's head. The jounin raised his arm, and blocked that as well. As he did, Sasuke smirked and reached out, fingers barely brushing the silver surface of a single bell. And then Kakashi was shooting backwards, and the bells were out of reach once again. As they both landed, Kakashi gave him a long look. "Well, you are different from the other two, I'll give you that." Sasuke ignored him and launched a fireball jutsu, one of the Uchiha clan's signature moves. He heard Kakashi curse quietly, before the jutsu hit. But once it dissipated...the silver haired jounin had vanished as well. Sasuke looked around wildly, trying to locate him. Then a hand shot out of the earth below him, gripping his ankle. Sasuke jumped and looked down in shock. With a single, savage yank, he was buried up to his neck in the ground.

Kakashi shot out of the ground and crouched over the dark haired boy, the bells temptingly close, but completely beyond him. "You were right, you are different from the others...but different isn't always better." He stood and dusted himself off, pulling out his book and turning to walk away. "They say the nail that sticks up is the one that gets hammered down." Sasuke gritted his teeth, trying to struggle but finding himself completely immobilized. "Oh great!" He spent a while trying to free himself, but eventually had to give up. Quite some time had passed while he was frantically trying to think his way out of the situation, when Saburo suddenly burst out of the bushes. And froze, his eyes locked on Sasuke. Sasuke stared back, and when he spoke it came out a question. "Saburo?" He was confused, he'd admit. He was sure he'd heard Saburo scream just before he'd run into Kakashi, and he was sure that the jounin would have incapacitated him. He'd expected the rosette to be down for the count...but here he was, perfectly fine. The other boy clenched his eyes shut, and opened them again, staring hard at Sasuke. The Uchiha blinked back at him, still surprised at his teammates sudden appearance, and for a crazy moment, inanely wondered if there was something on his face. Then Saburo turned faintly green. "Sasuke's...a talking head..." Turning, he staggered over to the tree line, and leaned his forehead against one of the trunks. "Well, I always knew Sasuke was amazing but...to not die even when his head's cut off..." Sasuke's brows snapped together, and a vein in his forehead began visibly pulsing. "Ahou! Who ever said my head was cut off! The damned jounin used a doton jutsu to bury me! Now hurry up and help me out of this!"

By the time Saburo had managed to dig Sasuke out, it was noon. Both boys could hear the alarm their sensei had set at the beginning of the exercise go off back in the open space outside the forest where they had started. Sasuke cursed and struck out violently at a nearby tree. "Damn it! I wasted too much time!" Saburo jumped and eyed him nervously, but didn't say anything as the two of them walked silently back towards the starting point of the exercise. When they finally cleared the last of the trees and walked into the open area of the clearing, they found an interesting sight indeed. Kakashi-sensei was lounging indolently against the post closest to them. Behind him, Narumi was tightly bound to the middle post. Her messy blonde braid spilled over one shoulder, it's brightly shining color a strange contrast to her irritated expression and ruffled state. Her blue eyes flashed at them over Sensei's shoulder, and she struggled silently against the rope. Kakashi looked up as the two boys came into view. "Ah there you are. Come over here won't you?" Standing up, he moved away from the posts, and turned so that he was facing them. Sasuke snorted, and belligerently walked over to stand on the far side of the blonde dobe. Saburo mirrored him, taking up a position on her other side.

The two of them sat down, eyeing the two lunch boxes set out in front of the posts with ravenous eyes. Kakashi looked down at them dispassionately "Uh oh, hungry are you? That's too bad. Oh, by the way, about this exercise?" They all looked away from the food, focusing on him. "Well, I've decided. I won't send any of you back to the academy." Narumi instantly lunged forward against the ropes, a relieved grin on her face. "So we pass?" Saburo leaned back, staring blankly up at the jounin. "What? I passed? All I did was run around and get caught in that genjutsu. Do you get points for that?" Sasuke just scoffed, his eyes suspiciously fixed on the jounin, ignoring his teammates apparent happiness. Kakashi smiled at them. "Yes, there's no need for you to go back to the academy. Because all three of you...are being dropped from the program." Sasuke's head snapped up, and he ground his teeth as he glared at the man, red tinting his vision as rage began to bubble up in him. The damn jounin couldn't be serious! Drop him from the program?

Nearby, Saburo and Narumi stared, identical looks of horror spreading across their faces. Narumi spoke, thrashing in her agitation. "Drop us from the program? But that means we can never be ninja! I mean I know we didn't get the bells but still! You said we'd be sent back to the academy! You can't just change the rules like that! Why would you do that?" Kakashi braced his hands on his hips, voice as bored as ever. "Because you don't think like ninja, you think like little kids. Like brats. You don't deserve to be ninja." Sasuke grunted, his anger boiling over. With a single savage thrust of his leg, he pushed off and dashed towards the jounin as fast as he could, intent on destroying that damn arrogant face. He vaguely heard Narumi's intake of air as she strained against her bonds, and Saburo calling his name in agitation. Then he was on the ground, his dominant arm twisted up behind his back, the jounin sitting easily on top of him, with one foot planted on his head, his face turned so that he was looking back towards his teammates by the posts. The rage was gone as suddenly as it had come, replaced by shock and resentment.

When Kakashi addressed him, his voice was tinted with scorn and disgust. "You think it's all about you." Sasuke grunted and tried to struggle, but the movement only sent a burning pain shooting up his arm. Saburo surged forward, a few steps beyond the posts, and snarled, his eyes snapping indignantly. "Let go of Sasuke! You can't just step on him like he's some sort of insect!" Narumi snarled angrily in support of Saburo's cry, eyes fixed angrily on Kakashi as she struggled violently against the ropes holding her/Sasuke closed one eye against the ground, and squinted, trying to twist his head to get a look at his tormentor, but he didn't say a word. Kakashi ignored Saburo, and spoke to all of them, his voice harsh. "You don't know what it means to be a ninja! You think it's a game, huh?" Sasuke saw Saburo's eyes widen, his shoulders lifting slightly, and his expression faltering. "Why do you think we put you on squads? Did you consider that question for one moment?" Narumi frowned, and Saburo looked and sounded confused. "I...I don't know what you mean..." Kakashi definitely sounded angry. "I mean what this exercise is all about! But you three didn't think about that. Not even close!" Saburo looked even more confused. "What it's about?" Kakashi shifted ever so slightly atop Sasuke's back, and the dark eyed boy tensed, eyes fixed on his two teammates. "Yes. That's what determines whether you pass or fail." Saburo hunched his shoulders, his bookish side showing through. "But that's...I mean I've been wondering about that from the beginning."

Kakashi scoffed. "Use your head. Three people on a squad, why do you think we would do that?" Narumi finally snapped. "Ugh! How are we supposed to know the reason? We didn't make the rules!" Kakashi tightened his grip ever so slightly on Sasuke's wrist. "It's so basic. Teamwork!" Sasuke went still, shocked. His eyes widened and he could see similar astonishment on the faces of his teammates. Saburo's voice was faltering. "Just working together, is that what you mean?" Kakashi's voice was irritated and deceptively sweet. "That's what I mean. It's too late now, but if all three of you had come at me together, you might have had a chance." Saburo looked suspicious. "Wait a minute. You set this up with only two bells for three people. Even if we did work together, only two of us could keep them and pass. That would lead to in-fighting and the squad would break up. There wouldn't be any teamwork in the end either way!" Kakashi sighed. "Exactly. I purposely pitted you against each other, to see if you could put the needs of the squad ahead of yourselves. A genin should have a natural feel for teamwork." As he said that last bit, he shifted again, and Sasuke could tell he was glaring down at the back of his head. "Yet it never even crossed your mind. Saburo!" The other boy stiffened. "You were so eager to work with Sasuke, who was gone, while Narumi was right in front of you, and you didn't lift a finger to help her!" The green eyed boy flushed slightly, his eyes darting guiltily towards their female teammate as he hunched his shoulders. "Narumi!" The girl widened her eyes, which were fixed on Kakashi and Sasuke. "You do everything on your own. Everything!" Narumi dropped her eyes, making a small noise of discomfort as she did. Then the foot on the back of Sasuke's head applied a bit more pressure, grinding his face further into the dirt, and turning his head slightly so that he could catch a glimpse of the cold black eye watching him from above his sensei's mask. "And you, Sasuke, thought the others were so far beneath you they were worthless!" Kakashi's head tilted backwards, and Sasuke felt a special heat in his words as he hissed angrily down at him. "Arrogance! Ninja missions are carried out in squads. Of course individual skills are necessary, but teamwork is the most essential element. Every shinobi understands this! When individuals put themselves above the squad, it leads to failure, and death! For example..."

Suddenly Sasuke felt him shift, and heard a rustling and clinking as he saw the jounin's free hand reach into his shuriken pouch. Suddenly a kunai flew past Saburo in a bright flash of steel, embedding itself into the wood of the post beside Narumi's neck. Sasuke jerked in surprise, eyes fixed on the gleaming blade quivering slightly just inches from the tanned throat. Saburo had half spun to follow the path of the thing, and his jade green eyes were shocked, his mouth hanging open. Then Sasuke felt the touch of a steel blade against his own throat, and froze, his eyes still on the other two. They both saw the movement, and turned back towards him as Kakashi snapped out. "Saburo! Kill Narumi NOW or Sasuke dies!" Sasuke stared at them, horrified. Saburo took half a step backward, his hand coming up and his mouth opening slightly in shock, eyes flashing back and forth between the helpless kunoichi and Sasuke. Narumi's eyes flicked between the two boys in fear, clenching her teeth and leaning away from the shuriken blade as her breath came faster.

This time when Kakashi spoke, his voice was softer. "That's what happens on a mission." As the kunai withdrew from his throat, Sasuke glanced away from his teammates, and closed his eyes in shame. Kakashi was right. If this had been an actual mission, he would have gotten both himself, and Narumi killed. He heard Saburo's voice, relieved and nervous all at once. "Oh boy, I thought you were serious for a minute." Narumi let out her breath in a sigh of relief. Kakashi frowned over at Saburo, twirling his kunai on one finger. "The performance of your duties as a ninja will risk lives, both yours and your comrades, as a matter of course. The enemy takes a hostage, and suddenly you're faced with an impossible choice...and someone ends up dead." Standing, he walked over to Narumi reaching past her to yank his other kunai free, ignoring the way she set herself, watching him nervously, a single drop of sweat trailing down her temple as he reached past her head to retrieve the thing. With a smooth move, he put away both weapons, turning and walking over to the strange stone where he'd left the alarm and the lunches during the exercise. "On every mission, your life is on the line." Sasuke opened his eyes, and sat up slowly, wiping the back of his hand across his mouth harshly, before moving over to sit beside Narumi as he listened to the man.

"Did you look at this stone? It's engraved with the names of heroes of our village. Heroes who all have one thing in common." Narumi's voice was admiring as she asked. "What? What do they have in common?" Kakashi's voice was quiet when he answered. "They're all...KIA. The names of some of my closest friends are engraved here." Narumi pulled back, her expression shocked. "KI...you mean...killed in action?" Her eyes were large as she looked between their sensei and the stone. Sasuke watched the jounin's back, and felt oddly sympathetic as he listened to the man's matter of fact statement. He knew what it was like to lose someone. After a moment of silence, Kakashi shifted to glare over his shoulder at them, though his voice had lost most of it's heat, and was now merely grave. "Alright. I'm going to give you all one more chance. But this time I'm going to be much harder on you." He turned fully to face them. "You'll have three hours to get a bell. Eat lunch now to build up strength...BUT! Narumi doesn't get any!" Narumi yelped indignantly. Kakashi eyed her flatly. "It's your punishment for being stupid enough to get caught." Then he glanced at the boys. "And if anyone tries to feed her, that person will instantly fail this exercise."

Narumi stared at him in astonishment for a minute, then set her jaw and looked away. Sasuke glared up at the jounin, real anger in his gaze. This man had just been threatening his teammate not a moment ago, and now he was refusing her food. Food she needed since she'd skipped breakfast, on Kakashi's orders. It wasn't fair. Kakashi's eye slid back and forth between him and the stunned looking Saburo. "I make the rules. You follow them. Got it?" Then he left, vanishing without another sound. After a minute, Sasuke, and Saburo reached out and picked up the lunch boxes, opening them and starting hungrily in on the food. Sasuke was starving. He scooped rice into his mouth at a steady pace, his eyes focused on his chopsticks. However, his other senses were alert, trying to sense the jounin. But all he could sense was his two teammates. Suddenly Narumi's stomach growled loudly. He and Saburo both looked up at the girl, listening to the drawn out rumble. She flushed. "This is no big deal, I'm not hungry at all! I-I'm on a diet!" Her stomach immediately disproved that lie by grumbling again. Sasuke stared at her. Everyone knew that Narumi could care less about clothes, make up, diets, or any of the other things the normal girls concerned themselves with. As far as he knew, the only thing besides her body that proved she was actually female was her crush on Saburo. And considering the dobe's love of ramen, going on a diet was the most transparent lie he'd ever heard her tell.

Sasuke sighed, and then held out his lunchbox towards her. "Here." Narumi jumped and looked at him in surprise. "What?" Saburo also seemed surprised. "Sasuke, you can't do that..." He took a minute to glance around the clearing furtively, "You heard what the sensei said." Sasuke didn't look at either of them, "Kakashi's gone. We need to get those bells as a team. If Narumi's hungry, she'll be weak, and get in the way. That'll hurt the squad, and decrease our chance of succeeding in our mission." Saburo looked slightly guilty, and Narumi just stared back and forth between the two of them. Then Saburo sighed, and thrust his lunch towards her. Narumi looked down at him, and blushed brightly, and mumbled a thank you under her breath. Saburo looked away, obviously embarrassed. "Don't thank me, just hurry up and eat!" Sasuke rolled his eyes once, huffing quietly, and glanced sideways at the other boy. "How can she eat when she's tied up, ahou?" This time it was Saburo's turn to blush, and he stammered. "Well what do you want me to do about it?" Sasuke looked heavenward as if pleading for patience, before he returned to watching the tree line. "Well, you'll obviously have to feed her." Saburo jerked back, eyebrow twitching, and his face flushed even redder. "I have to what?" Sasuke didn't look back at him, but his voice took on an urgent tone. "Hurry up. Kakashi could come back at any minute." Saburo groaned, picking up some rice with the chopsticks, and glaring up at the girl, his cheeks still quite pink. "This is one time only, you got that? I'll never do this again, hear?" Narumi nodded once, still looking just as embarrassed about the whole thing as Saburo. Looking more than a little uneasy, Saburo extended the chopsticks towards her, until she could lean her head forward, and take the food. She closed her eyes tightly as she took the bite, but chewed and swallowed quickly, obviously hungry.

The moment she swallowed, there was a sudden explosion of smoke and wind right in front of the three of them. The force of the blast forced Sasuke back half a pace, and he used the movement to fall into a defensive stance next to the post. Narumi was pinned even more tightly to the post by the blast, and her golden braid whipped back and forth in the wind, thudding against the post and her shoulder periodically. Saburo took a half step forward and to the side, placing his body slightly in front of Narumi as he threw up his arms into a quick high block, ducking his head and squinting his eyes against the wind and smoke. The chopsticks and lunch box had tumbled from his hands, and now spilled across the ground at his feet. Kakashi lunged at them out of the smoke, his face a mask of rage as he roared. "YOU!" Sasuke heard Narumi cry out in surprise and fear, her exclamation quickly joined by Saburo's own yelp. Sasuke merely grunted. Setting himself against the wind, he raised his hand and wondered if he dared attempt a katon jutsu with so much wind present to whip it into a deadly forest fire.

Kakashi's voice was rough as he spoke, the wind and smoke fading away as he stood. "You broke the rules, I hope you're ready for the punishment!" His hands flashed through a series of hand signs, and dark clouds gathered above them, lightning flashing and crackling through them in a violent promise. The very ground beneath them seemed to tremble as Kakashi looked ominously down at them. "Any last words?"

Sasuke gritted his teeth, his mind too sluggish to comprehend the situation or make a quick decision. Saburo had reached back to brace one hand against the post next to Narumi's shoulder, and the other was held up in front of his face, as if he were trying to shield himself. Narumi's teeth were practically chattering, and her voice, when she spoke, had a bit of a quaver in it, despite the defiant words. "It's not their fault! You said that there were three of us, and that's why...Saburo and..." Her voice faded away, and she looked down at the ground in front of her. Sasuke looked at her for a moment, before glaring up at the silver haired jounin and mentally cursing himself for a fool. "We're all part of this squad, rules or no rules!" Saburo looked over at Sasuke for a minute nervously, and his eyes flicked briefly to Narumi before meeting Sasuke's again. Then he suddenly turned back to Kakashi, his jaw stubbornly set despite his obvious nerves. "Yeah, that's right! We gave her our lunch because she's our teammate!" Narumi was clearly surprised by this sudden outpouring of team spirit, and looked back and forth between the two boys with wide eyes. Then she gritted her teeth and glared up at the man. "Y-yeah! That's right! We're a squad!" Kakashi took three measured steps forward, until he was directly in front of Narumi, towering over them. Saburo's eyes widened, and he was obviously terrified, but he determinedly raised his arm defensively in front of the blonde kunoichi. "The three of you are a squad, huh? That's your excuse?" He leaned over, his hands planted on his waist, like a disgusted parent talking to a child beyond redemption. The three of them held their silence, and Sasuke shifted so that if necessary, he'd be in position to launch one of his clan's signature katon to cover their escape.

As quickly as the sun breaking out from behind the clouds, Kakashi smiled, his lone visible eye crinkling up with laugh lines, and his voice was mild again. Only this time, there was a pleased warmth to it that was utterly new. "You pass." Saburo blinked, and the arm he'd held out in front of Narumi faltered. "Huh?" Narumi's mouth dropped open, and Sasuke's felt his confusion seep into his own expression, though he remained wary of the jounin's movements. "You. Pass." Saburo stared at him. "Wha-? How'd we pass?" As the dark clouds cleared away, Kakashi smiled. "You're the first squad to ever succeed. The others did exactly what I said, and fell into every trap. They couldn't think for themselves. A ninja must see through deception. In the ninja world, those who break the rules are scum, that's true. But. Those who betray or abandon their comrades, are worse than scum." Sasuke dropped his head and allowed a quiet smirk to tug the corners of his lips upwards. So that was that. They had made it, and were officially genin. Narumi was silent for a moment. Then "He's uh...you know he's...kinda cool..."

Kakashi nodded once. "The exercise is now over, with the entire squad passing. Squad seven starts it's first mission tomorrow!" Saburo pumped his fist into the air. "Yes!" Sasuke's smirk grew just a bit, and Narumi whooped exuberantly. Kakashi shook his head at their antics, though smile lines still crinkled the corner of his eye. "Alright, alright. You three are dismissed." As Kakashi moved to untie Narumi, Sasuke stooped to gather up his lunchbox and chopsticks. Finally, he was on the path to accomplishing his vengeance!

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><p><strong>AN: Hello! It's me again. This chapter came out quite a bit longer than I thought it would, but I hope you guys enjoy it. I rather like how it came out myself. And yes, the team comes together a bit more solidly at the end than it did in the actual series, but let's remember that Narumi is a girl. The boys naturally feel a bit more protective of her. **

**Please do review. It warms my heart, truly.**


	3. A Real Mission

**Disclaimer: **I do not now, and have never owned Naruto. If I did, I would be a much richer and more creative girl.

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><p>Saburo grimaced as the fiendish hell-being known as Tora the cat was handed over to his mistress, the wife of Hi no Kuni's daimyo. Saburo and Narumi were both covered in scratches from the damned thing, and while known of them were at all deep, and most had stopped oozing blood, they stung. A lot. The animal had given them the slip a couple of times, and when they'd finally caught it, it had refused to go down without a fight. Thus the somewhat dubious badges of honor that he and his kunoichi teammate bore. Tora was getting it's comeuppance now though. The thing looked absolutely horrified to be back with it's owner. Narumi stuck her tongue out at the miserable creature as the large woman in front of them rubbed her face vigorously against its head, and murmured in a decidedly unfriendly tone that the thing deserved whatever it got. Saburo was torn between agreeing with the sentiment, and wondering if the animal had had a good reason for making such a desperate bid for freedom.<p>

Sasuke stood beside Saburo, affecting boredom as his dark eyes pointedly turned away from the scene in front of them. Unlike Narumi and Saburo, the Uchiha had managed to avoid close contact with the creature entirely, so his pale skin was unmarred, though he still seemed quite annoyed with the whole situation. The Sandaime was shuffling through papers and looking at a scroll as the woman walked off to pay another man at a table across the room. "Well now, let's see. Team seven, for your next mission you have a few different options. You could babysit an elders grandson, help a woman go to the market in the closest civilian town, or dig for potatoes." Saburo felt his hopes sink in disappointment. More boring missions. They were practically the village errand boys! Narumi's head snapped around, and she eyed the Sandaime indignantly, crossing her arms across her chest and glaring at him. "NO! No thank you! I want a real mission, not this boring stuff!" Saburo could see that Sasuke was keeping his expression as cool and uncaring as ever, but the grunt the other boy gave sounded like he agreed with Narumi. Saburo himself desperately wanted that 'real' mission as well. Anything would be better than all these...CHORES. Ikuye-sensei was sitting next to the Hokage, helping handout missions to his old students, and immediately surged to her feet, her thick brown hair flying and her dark eyes snapping irately as she glared down at Narumi. "Baka! You're a rookie genin, and you have to work your way up to the higher ranked missions just like everyone else!"

Narumi wasn't even remotely chastised or cowed. Her eyes clenched shut in frustration as she argued with her former teacher. "But Ikuye-sensei, we keep getting these stupid little duties! I'm a ninja now, and I want a ninja mission!" Kakashi-sensei stepped up beside the blonde girl and slapped the back of her head just hard enough to get her attention. "Easy there, hotshot." Narumi glared at the floor by her feet, obviously annoyed that she had been reprimanded by her sensei in front of the Sandaime. Saburo almost rolled his eyes. Really, what did she expect when she had an outburst like this? Especially since she was talking back to the _Hokage_ of all people. The Sandaime sat back, taking a long pull on his pipe before he spoke, eyes fixed on Narumi. "Listen to me Narumi. It seems you don't fully understand the ranking of missions. Everyday Konohagakure receives numerous requests from all kinds of clients. Everything from babysitting to assassination. Each request is divided up and ranked according to difficulty as A,B,C, or D. The village is also divided up based on skill. It starts with the Hokage, and then goes to Jounin, Chuunin, and Genin. The missions are then handed out to ninja based on their abilities. Jounin receive A rank missions, Chuunins receive B and C rank missions, and Gennin receive C and D rank missions. You three are new gennin, therefore these D rank missions are the correct level to assign to you." While the explanation was sound and made sense, Saburo didn't think it was going to have the desired effect on his teammate. Especially since she had sat down and started muttering to herself about what flavor of ramen to have for dinner that night halfway through the speech. Once the Sandaime noticed this, his brows snapped together in annoyance, and he raised his voice. "Oi, listen when I'm talking to you!" Saburo flinched, and glared at the blonde from the corner of his eye, thoroughly embarrassed.

Kakashi-sensei raised a hand to rub the back of his neck, his lone eye crinkling into a slightly uncomfortable smile. "Sorry, Sandaime-sama, I'll talk to her..." Before the jounin could say more, Narumi raised her face to glare up at the old man holding his pipe. "Jeez O-jiji, all you do is give me lectures! I can do this! I'm not in the academy anymore!" Saburo saw Kakashi-sensei sigh softly out of the corner of his eye, as Narumi glared indignantly at the floor. But he also saw Ikuye's eyes widen and then soften a little as the corner of her lips quirked up into a fiercely proud expression. The Sandaime was regarding Narumi with quiet intensity, his pipe tucked into a corner of his mouth contemplatively. Then he suddenly smiled quietly. "Alright."

Narumi looked up, her expression sliding into confused as she looked up at the robed man in front of her. Saburo himself was astonished, his gaze snapping up from his teammate to fix on the quietly smiling Hokage. A tiny part of his mind quietly noted that Kakashi-sensei also seemed surprised. Only Sasuke was unaffected by the sudden change. The Sandaime leaned forward, lacing his fingers together in front of him the same way that Sasuke usually did. "I'll give you a C-rank mission. It's a protection detail." Narumi bounced up and down slightly, her blue eyes practically glowing in excitement. "Who is it O-jiji? Who are we protecting? A daimyo? A princess?" Sandaime chuckled softly, his eyes just a tad indulgent. "Calm down, I'm about to introduce him."

Turning his head, the Hokage looked off towards a door in the side of the room. "You can come in now." Saburo's entire attention suddenly shifted to the slowly opening door. The revelation of who, or more accurately what, their client was made for a distinctly anticlimactic sinking feeling in the pit of Saburo's stomach. Truthfully, he'd been somewhat hopeful that he'd get to escort a beautiful princess to her homeland. However, the person who came through the door was no princess. It was an old man with rough gray hair and goatee, dressed in the clothes of a civilian who had spent his life in manual labor. His hands were covered in the scars of a carpenter or builder, further testament to a life spent more outdoors than in. The man clutched a half empty bottle of sake, and his cheeks were flushed from what he'd already consumed. Despite the disreputable look of him, the man was eyeing Saburo and his team skeptically, his eyes critical. "What the...these are just a bunch of snot-nosed little brats." Lifting the bottle to his lips, he took another healthy gulp, a tiny trickle spilling out of the corner of his mouth and down his chin. Once he finished he shoved the back of his hand clumsily across his face to wipe away the liquid, glaring at them fuzzily. Saburo and his teammates stared at the man in blank confusion, unsure how to react to him as he continued. "And you, the blondie. Do you really expect me to believe a little girl like you's a ninja?" Saburo's brows snapped together, and he glared at the man incredulously. Shinobi were practical above all else, and there were too many powerful kunoichi in the world for any woman who wore a hitae-ate to be dismissed solely because of her gender. Narumi was not so reserved as her rosy haired companion. She lunged towards the client with an angry growl, stopped only by the fact that Kakashi-sensei had snatched the collar of her shirt, and used it to lift her off her feet. The enraged kunoichi thrashed in her sensei's grip, flailing angrily as she threatened the inebriated old man in front of her. "Let me at him, I'll show that bastard! I'll kick his ass so hard he won't be able to sit down for a week!" Kakashi-sensei spoke in a bored tone, his free hand resting on his hip. "You can't demolish him Narumi, he's our client. And on top of that, he's a civilian. It reflects badly on us if you attack him." Nonetheless his dark eyes were very slightly annoyed as they turned back to the client.

The man didn't seem to take much notice of Narumi's very vocal displeasure, merely taking another long swig before he began to speak. "I am Tazuna, the master bridge builder, and I must return to my country. I'm building a very important bridge there, and I expect you to keep me safe, even if it costs you your lives." Saburo resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the man. First he questions their teams capability and makes Narumi even more of a pain to deal with than usual, and then he tells them he expects them to give their lives on a mission routine enough to be given to fresh gennin? The man obviously had no idea what he was talking about. Before anything else could be said, the Hokage cleared his throat. "Right then. Kakashi, you and your team will gather your gear, and then meet Tazuna at the gates. Understood?" Kakashi set Narumi back on the floor, though he discreetly kept hold of his fistful of her shirt collar. Turning to the Sandaime, he nodded once, the ninja equivalent of a bow. "Understood, Hokage-sama."

They had just walked out of the great gates of Konoha and officially left the village. Narumi was walking in the front, Tazuna just behind her, Saburo was walking with Sasuke a bit further back, and Kakashi-sensei was bringing up the rear. Suddenly Narumi spun on her heal, and looked back over everyone else's heads, up towards the hokage mountain. Her face suddenly split into an enormous grin, and she thrust one fist into the air excitedly, her voice triumphant as she crowed. "ALL RIGHT!" Saburo eyed her with curiosity and a certain amount of scorn. The girl could be such a weirdo sometimes, and a loudmouth to boot. "What are you getting excited about, Narumi?" Narumi bounced a bit, her head suddenly whipping from side to side as if she was trying to see everything around her at once, an excited laugh bubbling up from her throat along with her words. "This is the first time I've ever left the village! It's gonna be awesome!" Tazuna turned his head to Kakashi, his expression aggrieved and irritated. "Hey! How am I supposed to trust my life to this brat? She's a joke!" Narumi suddenly stopped moving and laughing as Kakashi-sensei answered the man calmly. "She's with me, and I'm a jounin, so you don't need to worry." Narumi suddenly whipped around to glare at the man. "HEY! Don't insult kunoichi, it's a big mistake! And besides, I'm gonna be hokage someday, just you wait!" Saburo dropped his face to his hand. Here they went again, Narumi and her hokage ambition. Tazuna didn't seem to take her very seriously either. He took another swig from his ever present bottle before eyeing her with cool skepticism. "Hokage are powerful and wise. You are puny and brainless. I doubt you could ever become hokage." A vein in Narumi's temple began to pulse angrily, and Saburo looked hopefully at Kakashi-sensei, hoping he would say something to prevent the coming outburst. "Shut up, you damn old man! I AM going to become Hokage, just you watch me! And when I do, you're going to HAVE to acknowledge me as a powerful ninja!" Tazuna lowered the bottle he'd been about to take another swig from. "No I won't. Become hokage ten times over, it won't matter. To me you'll still be nothing but a pitiful little girl." Kakashi merely reached out and grabbed the back of Narumi's pack, physically restraining her as she once more leapt towards Tazuna spitting unkind phrases, his voice annoyed. "I told you, you're supposed to protect the client not attack him." Saburo rolled his eyes, and turned with Sasuke to follow the old man who was now walking away from the struggling gennin and her jounin instructor.

They'd been walking for a while in careful silence when something occurred to Saburo. "Excuse me, Tazuna-san?" The old bridge-builder glanced over his shoulder at the boy behind him, and when he spoke his voice was rough. "What?" Saburo took a breath to hold in his annoyance, and went on with his question, realizing that Sasuke was looking sideways at him in curiosity as he questioned the man in front of them. "You're from the land of waves right?" Tazuna shrugged, turning his eyes back to the road. "What about it?" Saburo ignored him, and turned back to the silver-haired jounin walking on the other side of Sasuke. "Kakashi-sensei, aren't there shinobi in that country too?" Kakashi's black eyes met Saburo's gaze quietly as he answered. "No, there are no ninja in the land of waves. But in other countries, there are hidden villages like our own Konohagakure, each with its own customs and cultures, where ninja live." He turned his head a bit to look back towards the road, but he continued to expound on Saburo's question. "To the people of this continent, the existence of a shinobi village within a country means military strength. In other words, the countries protect themselves and maintain the balance of power with other countries through shinobi. However, the hidden villages are not controlled by any government. They're independent from the country, and have equal status. Wave is a small island country. They don't receive much interference from the larger elemental countries, so they don't really need a hidden village. Of all the shinobi villages, Leaf, Mist, Cloud, Sand, and Stone are the most powerful, and the largest. For this reason, these are referred to as the Five Great Shinobi Villages, and only a leader of one of these villages can receive the name of '-kage'. The five Kages reign over the ninja of the world."

Saburo brightened, and a smile spread over his face. "Then that means Hokage-sama is amazing!" However, in the safety of his mind he muttered a suspicious _'Is the old geezer really all that important?' _Suddenly Kakashi-sensei darted Saburo, Narumi, and Sasuke a sharp look, and his voice shifted to an indignant tone. "You just doubted Hokage-sama, didn't you?" Saburo jumped, his shoulders stiff and rigid, and his eyes fixed on Narumi's back. He shook his head vigorously, absently noting that Narumi did the same. Could the man read minds? Sasuke, of course, maintained his usual composure and remained motionless. Saburo inwardly wished he were as cool as Sasuke, and could handle these things better.

Kakashi walked past the two boys, and dropped a hand on Narumi's head in a calming gesture, though he spoke over his shoulder to Saburo. "Well, there aren't any shinobi battles on C-rank missions. So you can relax." Saburo let his breath out in a relieved huff, his shoulders relaxing. "Oh good. So we won't run into any enemy shinobi then." Kakashi's eye crinkled up and he chuckled warmly as they continued walking, his hand dropping away from Narumi's head after a moment. "Not likely." Saburo, however, noticed that Sasuke suddenly turned and glanced over his shoulder at Tazuna with a half-frown. Saburo followed his glance, confused for a moment, before the darker boy suddenly turned back towards the front and continued walking after Kakashi-sensei and Narumi. Saburo looked back at Tazuna one last time, and then hurried after his idol.

It was getting close to lunch time, and Saburo had shifted so that he was walking just behind Narumi, who was as determined to lead the way as ever, and in front of Kakashi-sensei. Everything seemed quiet, and while he was enjoying the walk, Saburo wished that there were a bit more action going on. He was bored. Then suddenly he heard Kakashi-sensei's startled cry combined with the sound of a weapon flying through the air. Saburo half turned to look at his sensei, and froze in horror. Kakashi was wrapped in spiked chains from neck to knees, with his arms pinned at his sides, and his glare fixed on one of the two ninja standing behind him holding the ends of the chains. Saburo felt some of the blood drain from his face and stuttered a little in his shock. "Wh-wha-?" Narumi and Sasuke had also swiveled, and already fallen into battle stances. Narumi called out to Kakashi when she saw his predicament, blue eyes bewildered. "Sensei!" Before any of the three gennin could take action, the two enemy ninja whipped their bodies, and heaved on the chain, causing it to rip Kakashi-sensei's body apart. Saburo cried out in horror, turning his face away. As he did, he found himself looking at Narumi's face. Her blue eyes were wide, and staring directly behind him at where Kakashi-sensei had been. The girls teeth were clenched, as if she were physically holding back a scream, and her eyes were almost unnaturally wide. And then the enemy ninja appeared behind her, chuckling triumphantly. "Now it's your turn." Narumi's head whipped around as she looked over her shoulder at the two of them. The enemy surged to attack, the spiked chain coiling through the air. Narumi watched it rise with a sort of frozen terror. Saburo stared helplessly, his throat tight with his own fear, and the knowledge that he was about to watch his teammate be killed in front of him.

Sasuke suddenly leaped into the air, black hair whipping around his face, dark eyes fixed on the chain. Reaching into his holster, he pulled out a shuriken, and sent it flying. The star-shaped weapon caught a link in the chain and yanked the whole thing back, one of the links of the chain whipped across Narumi's hand as it jerked back, creating a deep gash. The blonde gasped at the sudden pain, her unharmed hand shooting to grasp reflexively at her injured wrist, and her eyes clearing as she shook her head. Then the shuriken had pulled the larger weapon completely away from her, and was sinking deeply into the wood of a tree, and pinning the deadly weapon where it couldn't be used. Eyes narrowed, the Uchiha sent a kunai flying through the air to pin the shuriken more securely to the tree through the hole in its center. The enemy ninja had the chain attached to their gauntlets, great heavy things with large metal claws at the end, and the pinning of the chain temporarily restricted their movements. They both heaved and struggled, arms stretching straight back awkwardly as they tried to swing the gleaming weapons at the blonde kunoichi only a foot or two away from them. Saburo watched, dazed, as Sasuke landed with precision, one foot on either ninja's gauntlet. With a grunt, the Uchiha gasped a gauntlet in each hand, and used his arms to support himself as both his feet shot back, one colliding with the face of each enemy. Their heads snapped sideways, but they took it grimly in stride, releasing the chain, and using the momentum of Sasuke's kick to sprint away just as Sasuke released their gauntlets. One curved around towards Tazuna, while the other circled around and went straight for Narumi's unguarded back. Saburo's eyes darted from Sasuke to the fast approaching ninja, and he froze. "I've got to do something. I've got to do SOMETHING!" His mind was screaming at him, but his body didn't move. Narumi had turned towards her attacker, but her movements were slower and clumsier than normal. Sasuke shot over to stand in between Narumi and the oncoming enemy. Narumi had already released her injured wrist, and drawn a kunai. When Sasuke moved in front of her, she assumed a supportive stance, obviously prepared to come to her dark teammates aid at the first opportunity. Saburo's eyes turned away from his teammates as he awkwardly stumbled towards Tazuna, fumbling for a kunai. Just as he moved into the enemy's path, he tripped, and suddenly sprawled across the ground. Saburo raised his eyes, again his mind still screaming...and saw the attacking ninja's body suddenly jerking up into the air.

Kakashi-sensei had an arm wrapped securely around each of the enemies necks as he halted their offense with ease. His posture was relaxed and his eye calm and cool as it swept the group in front of him. If it weren't for the fact that he had the enemy literally by their throats, Saburo would have thought he were wondering whether or not to pull out that perverted book of his. "Hi." Narumi stared at him, mouth slightly open in blank shock. Then her expression suddenly transformed into a wide, relieved grin. "Kakashi-sensei! You're alive!" Sasuke, who was still standing in front of her, looked distinctly less impressed, and muttered under his breath "Hn. Show-off." Saburo just stared blankly up at the man, his mouth open in surprise. "Huh? But he was-" He whipped his head around to look at the spot where Kakashi-sensei's corpse, or what was left of it, ought to be. What he saw were multiple little logs and branches scattered across the road. Saburo stared blankly for a moment. "Kawarimi." Kakashi started to walk towards the side of the road, then stopped and looked over his students again before focusing on Saburo. "Saburo...I'm sorry I didn't help you out right away. I just didn't think you'd freeze up like that." Then the man turned away from him to look over at Saburo's teammates. "Good job Sasuke, very smooth. You protected you teammate well. Narumi, sorry, I made a call that got you injured. Still, you did an impressive job of backing Sasuke up in spite of your injury. You did freeze up at first, but you shook it off admirably." Sasuke's expression didn't change, but his chin lifted slightly. Narumi looked a little conflicted, but then her face lit up with a wide smile, and she beamed up at Kakashi. "I'm fine sensei! Just you watch, next time, I'll kick their butts on my own!"

Saburo got back up, eyes fixed on his team. _'I...I was useless. And Sasuke. Sasuke was awesome. It was our first battle for both of us, but he didn't freeze at all.'_ Saburo shifted his gaze over to Narumi, and his glance went to the blood dripping down the blondes fingers to the road. Kakashi sensei's words replayed in his head. _'Narumi, I'm sorry. I made a call that got you injured.'_ Saburo's eyes widened as a realization came to him. "He meant me." Saburo whispered to himself, too low to be heard by the others. "He meant the call to let me handle it. I was closer to her than Sasuke, I should have been the one to help her." Saburo dropped his eyes to the road, ashamed.

Sasuke's voice suddenly cut through his self loathing. "Hey." Saburo glanced up at the quiet call, and locked eyes with the other boy. "Uh, yeah Sasuke?" The other boy looked him over, a faintly amused smirk playing at the corners of his mouth. "You're not hurt are ya?" Then he turned fully to look at the rosette, and his smirk widened a tad. "Scaredy-cat." Saburo froze, eyes wide as he looked back at the other two. Kakashi looked over his shoulder, his voice sharp. "Hey, save the rivalry for later you two." Saburo jumped and looked away from Sasuke. Kakashi ignored them and switched his attention to the blonde kunoichi looking back and forth between her teammates, obviously unsure what to say as she hadn't heard their little exchange. Kakashi caught her eyes with his to make sure he had her attention as he spoke. "Narumi, I need you to try not to move too much. Their claws are soaked in poison, and we need to remove it before it can spread. We'll have to open the wound to release it." Narumi immediately looked at her hand like it had sprouted another head, and became very still. Saburo felt like someone had stabbed him and then twisted the kunai. The rosette flushed and carefully avoided looking at his teammates. Kakashi-sensei turned away from his students, and looked over at the old bridge builder, his lone onyx eye forbidding. "Tazuna-san, I need to talk to you."

Kakashi-sensei soon had their attackers securely bound to a tree on the side of the road. Saburo quietly joined Tazuna and his team in forming a semi-circle around the silent shinobi who glared murderously up at the group surrounding them. Kakashi-sensei looked them over carefully, and then spoke. "These look like Kirigakure chuunin. Shinobi of Kirigakure are known to continue fighting, no matter what." One of the Kirigakure shinobi narrowed his eyes, and when he spoke, his voice was low and gravelly. "How did you read our movements?" Saburo glanced up, wondering the same thing. How had Kakashi-sensei known that attack was coming? The silver haired jounin looked at his helpless enemies blankly, his face about as interested as when he was accepting a new D-rank mission from the Sandaime. "On a sunny day like this, when it hasn't rained in weeks...there's not going to be a puddle on the road." Tazuna stared at the other man aghast, and objected loudly. "If you knew that, why did you let the brats fight?" Kakashi was still looking at the bound ninja when he answered. "If I had wanted to, I could have killed these two instantly, but..." Saburo shivered a little as he got a glimpse of sensei's expression as that lone eye slid around to pin Tazuna. Really, considering how much of the man's face was covered up, Kakashi-sensei could be incredibly expressive when he wanted to. "...there was something I wanted to find out. Namely, who these two were after."

Tazuna blinked, obviously not understanding. "What do you mean?" Kakashi turned to face him quietly. "I mean, were they after you, or one of us." Kakashi-sensei's eye fixed the suddenly uncomfortable bridge builder steadily. "We haven't heard that there are any ninja after you. Our mission is simply to protect you from thieves and gangs. The presence of these ninja changes things. This has now become at least a B-rank mission." The bridge builder seemed suddenly sober, and he dropped his eyes as he listened to Kakashi. Kakashi's eye almost seemed to be boring into the older man as he spoke, and his voice was slightly accusing. "If it was known that ninjas were after you, this mission would have been set up as a more expensive B-rank. While I'm sure you had a reason for this deception, it causes problems when you lie about the mission. My team and I are now operating outside our duties."

Saburo didn't really want to call attention to himself after his performance in the battle, but he felt compelled to speak. He turned to the bridge builder, and when he spoke his voice was meek. "We're only gennin, Tazuna-san. This mission is too advanced for us. And Narumi's injury needs to be treated. We really should take her to a doctor." Kakashi glanced mildly at Saburo, who quickly looked away, still uncomfortable with his teammates. Sasuke just looked away with a scornful "Hn." Narumi however was staring at Saburo, her eyes wide, and an expression that was caught between indignant and betrayed on her face. Saburo hunched his shoulders as he felt Kakashi's gaze resting heavily on him. "Hmm. Yes, perhaps this mission is too much for this team. We probably should go back."

Before anything else could be said, there was the sudden sound of a kunai being withdrawn from its holster. Saburo looked up just in time to see Narumi slice savagely across the back of her her hand, going diagonally across the original cut in an x-shape. Her jaw was set against the pain, and a heavy flow of fresh blood sudden spilled across her hand. Saburo could clearly see his own shock mirrored in the others faces, and part of him quietly noted that Tazuna looked more than a little green around the gills. Surprisingly, Sasuke was the one to react. "Dobe! What the hell are you doing?" Narumi shot him a glare, and growled quietly. "Shut up, teme." Then she focused on her hand as she crouched to wipe her bloodied kunai clean in the grass before replacing it in her holster. Quietly she slipped off her pack to fish a roll of bandages from it, waiting a moment before she clumsily began trying to wrap the wound. "There. Kakashi-sensei, you said opening the wound would release the poison. Well, I've done that. It's not a problem anymore, I'm fine. I-" She hissed as the bandage caught and dragged roughly against her wounds, before continuing, looking up at Kakashi-sensei with fiery eyes. "I won't be that weak. I won't need saving anymore. And I absolutely REFUSE to be the reason we abandon this mission!" Saburo paled. He'd messed up again. Kakashi-sensei sighed. "Well, if you're that determined about it, I guess we'll continue with the mission. But it's not good for you to lose so much blood. Stop that and let me take a look at your hand." Walking over, the jounin squatted in front of her and gently took her hand and the roll of bandages. He frowned a bit as he looked down at the wound, and for a moment, he didn't say anything. Narumi eyed him anxiously, shifting her weight, and eventually asked "Kakashi-sensei? What's the matter" Saburo had a sudden fear, and swallowed hard. "Is...is the wound alright?" Kakshi-sensei glanced over at him, then smiled and went back to wrapping Narumi's hand. "It's fine." Saburo sighed in relief. He really didn't think he could take any more guilt right now. Kakashi focused on the wound, his voice mild as he spoke to Narumi. "Do you feel alright? I need you to tell me honestly if the poison is still affecting you." Narumi shook her head once. "No, Sensei. I felt sort of dizzy and sick before, and my body didn't really move right, but I don't feel weird anymore." Kakashi nodded absently. "Well, let me know if you feel any further effects." After he finished with Narumi's hand, Kakashi went over to the two captive shinobi, and crouched over them for a moment, reaching for something in one of his vest pockets. The two nuke-nin thrashed and fought, apparently unhappy about whatever it was that he was doing, but Kakashi didn't pay them any heed. Standing, the silver-haired jounin surveyed the small group behind him. "Alright then, let's get moving."

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><p><strong>AN: **_Hello peoples! Much gratitude to those who reviewed._

_Since this question has come up a couple different times, I'm going to go ahead and answer it here. I do have a particular pairing in mind for this fic. However, that could change depending on how the characters develop later on. And whoever ends up together, the main characters are all around twelve and thirteen. They'll have crushes and such, but real true love won't come into the picture for a while yet. However, I am very pleased to see the interest, and will carefully consider the suggestions I've been given._

_In case anyone's wondering, Tazuna's skepticism about Narumi's abilities is partly because she's loud and disarming, and partly because he sees her as a harmless little girl. Remember, he's a civilian. Saburo doesn't really have a whole lot of respect for Narumi, but as a ninja he is very practical about the abilities of his comrades and counterparts among the fairer sex. Plus, Narumi is his teammate, and he doesn't like his team being looked down on by a random drunk civilian. This is also the reason for Sasuke's dislike of Tazuna, though his is more along the lines of 'how dare a lowly civilian insult MY team'. Kakashi is simply very protective of his students, and it makes him angry when they are insulted. Also, the freezing up scene. Saburo, being a bookish type at this point, freezes in the face of danger because his body cannot keep up with his mind. The longer that went on, the more he panicked, and the less capable he became of reacting, which is why he preformed so poorly during the fight. Narumi, however, is much more combat oriented. Once she was injured, the pain kick-started her systems, and her body took over and reacted to the danger. That's why Narumi was able to pull out of it, and Saburo wasn't._

_Hope everyone continues to enjoy the story!_


	4. Contact With The Enemy

**A/N:** _Sorry for the delay guys! Spring break you know. Spent all yesterday in the car, and had no energy to work on the story. Forgive please! Anyway, please read and review! Hope to hear from you guys._

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><p>The five of them had boarded a small boat, and were moving quietly through the water. All around them was nothing but white, the surface of the ocean shrouded in a dense and heavy fog. Narumi had climbed into the prow of the boat and sat utterly still, her face turned towards the great whiteness in front of them. Kakashi saw her sniffing at the air a few times, almost like an Inuzuka. He could have sworn that she was using her sense of smell to replace her impaired sight, searching for scents carried across the water on the wind. For a moment he wondered if she might not be, if the Kyuubi might not have other effects on her body besides just the incredible healing rate he had observed earlier when the girl cut her hand open. Saburo was sitting between Kakashi and Narumi, and the rosette seemed subdued. He didn't look directly at anyone for very long, and he hunched his shoulders defensively when he did look at them. Also, Kakashi saw guilt flash in his eyes anytime he looked at the bandages on Narumi's hand. Kakashi shook his head quietly. Freezing up in your first battle was nothing to be ashamed of, but the consequences of such a reaction could be deadly to yourself or a comrade. This was a hard lesson for Saburo, but it was one that the boy would have to learn.<p>

Sasuke sat across from the other boy, his posture declaring him to be utterly calm and relaxed as he leaned against the side of the boat. The boy reminded Kakashi a bit of himself at that age, which told him he'd have to be careful. He didn't want this team seven to turn out as his own had, and Sasuke's declaration of hatred, and all-consuming thirst for vengeance on the first day...had not been comforting. But on the other hand, he could see hopeful signs with the boy. Though it wasn't obvious, Kakashi had caught him darting a couple of careful glances at Narumi when he thought no one was looking. Keeping an eye on her. Also, despite the apparent dislike between the two, Sasuke had not hesitated to protect his teammate when she had been in danger. And despite the fact that there seemed to be a blossoming rivalry between the Uchiha and his blonde teammate, Narumi had not hesitated to take up the supporting position behind him when she could have fought to take the lead. So the two of them worked well together, and were protective of each other when they needed to be. That was a very good sign, especially for Sasuke.

A quiet voice murmured softly behind him, "Our destination is just ahead. The land of waves is at the base of the bridge." Dragging himself out of his contemplations of his students, Kakashi looked up. An unfinished bridge loomed above them, impressive in its size. Kakashi's eyes narrowed and he turned to Tazuna, who was sitting just behind and to the side of Kakashi himself. Kakshi had purposefully taken up a position between his students and the other man. It wasn't that Kakashi felt the old man was a threat exactly, he simply wasn't comfortable with someone who would knowingly pull fresh gennin into an obviously dangerous situation sitting directly behind his students. "Tazuna-san. Before we reach the pier, I'll have to ask you something." His students suddenly turned to focus on the two of them, each of them attentive to the conversation. "The men who are after you. I need to know who and why. If you don't tell us, I'm afraid I'll have to end this mission when we drop you ashore." Tazuna dropped his head for a minute so that his hat covered his eyes and shaded his face. Then he looked up and met Kakashi's eyes. "The man who seeks my life is a very short man, but he casts a very long and deadly shadow."

Kakashi frowned, mentally reviewing the bingo book. The man sounded like a Nara but...then Kakashi sighed. Civilians. When they spoke like this, they intended their words as metaphors or some-such nonsense. They didn't understand that ninja would take them literally at their word. Mentally throwing his half-formed thoughts of nuke-nin out the window, Kakashi sat back a bit. "Hm. Who is he?" Tazuna's face was grave. "You know him. At least, I'm sure you've heard his name before. He's one of the wealthiest men in the world, the shipping magnet, Gatou." Kakshi's uncovered eye widened in surprise. "Gatou? Of Gatou Transport? He's a business leader, everyone knows him!" Narumi leaned forward eagerly, and Kakashi heard her voice asking soft but eager questions. "Who, who? What, what?" Tazuna's face was serious. "He's a very powerful tycoon from a famous company, that's true. But below the surface, with the same ruthless methods he uses to take over businesses and nations...he sells drugs and contraband on the black market, using gangs, and nuke-nin." Tazuna shifted, his eyes tired. "It was one year ago when Gatou set his sights on the land of waves. He came to our island and used his wealth to take total control of our transport and shipping. Anyone who tried to stand in his way simply...vanished. In an island nation like our own, a man who controls the sea controls everything, right down to our very lives. But there is a threat to his power over us, and that is the bridge. When it is complete, we will be joined to the mainland, and that will break his control. Gatou fears the bridge I am building, and so he is trying to have me killed, before it can be completed."

Saburo sat back, temporarily back to his normal analytical self. "So that's it. You're in charge of the bridge, so you're standing in this guys way." Sasuke turned his head to glance at his teammates, his voice firm. "That means that those guys we fought in the forest were working for Gatou." Kakshi stared hard at the bridge builder. "If you knew this man was dangerous, and would be actively trying to eliminate you, why did you hide that from us?" Tazuna looked at the bottom of the boat again, avoiding their eyes. "Because the land of waves is a small, impoverished nation. Even our nobles have little money. The common people building this bridge could never afford an A or B-rank mission." Kakashi glared at the man for an instant, and mentally snarled. Little money? What did he care if they had little money? His students only had one chance at life, and that would be put at quite enough risk in the course of their lives as Shinobi without this moron pulling them into things that were too dangerous, too early. The calmer part of his mind quietly reminded him that it would set a bad example for the students if he told Narumi that she couldn't attack the client, and then killed the man himself. Inconsistency would be a bad thing. Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to continue listening to the man, and dismiss his anger for the moment. Tazuna looked up at them. "If you end this mission when you drop me ashore, there'll be no bridge. I'll be dead before I ever reach home." Suddenly the old mans eyes turned crafty. "...but don't feel bad about that. Of course, my sweet little grandson will be upset, he'll cry 'Grandad, I want my Grandad!'" Out of the corner of his eye, Kakashi saw Narumi and Saburo's faces drop into expressions of incredulous disbelief as they realized what was going on. "Oh. And my daughter will condemn the ninja of Konohagakure, denouncing and blaming you for abandoning her father, and living her life in sorrow." Even Sasuke's expression had shifted, the boys eyebrow twitching as he glanced over at his teammates. Tazuna shrugged and continued. "Ah well. It's not your fault, forget it." Kakashi sighed in unison with his team, before replying to the older man in dry tone. "Well. I guess we have no other choice. We'll have to keep guarding you." Tazuna pasted on a look of surprise that was totally unconvincing. "Ooh. I'm very grateful."

They soon arrived in the bay they had been heading towards. After traveling through a tunnel, they broke out into a sunlit place with bright blue water, and small trees that grew up out of it near the shore. Ocean going birds flitted through the skies, and the shores and shallows were lined with houses, buildings, and networks of walkways built on stilts. Narumi lit up with eagerness, leaning forward over the prow as she took in the sites. Kakashi watched her for a moment, and smiled quietly. She could be annoying and loudmouthed, but her love of life was a pleasure to watch at times like this. He was pleased to see that Saburo seemed to be feeling a bit better, as the boys green eyes widened with interest, and he leaned forward beside his teammate. It reminded him a bit of Rin and Obito.

Soon they were pulling up to one of the walkways. Kakashi and his team stepped up onto the firmer footing of the wooden planking, closely followed by Tazuna, who paused and turned to speak to the boatman who'd brought them over. The man was still in his boat, and his voice was still low. "This is as far as I go." Tazuna nodded. "Right. Thank you for taking such a risk." The other man nodded once, switched on the previously unused motor of his boat, and sped off across the bay. Tazuna turned quickly back to Kakashi and his waiting team. "Alright, take me to my home." Kakashi nodded once. "Right." As they started off towards the old mans home, Kakashi's mind was working furiously. _'The next ninja they send won't be chuunin. They'll be jounin.'_ Kakashi sighed, and wondered why it was that he always seemed to attract trouble, no matter what he did.

They had left the bay behind and were walking along a fairly deserted forest path, when Narumi suddenly launched a kunai into the bushes with a cry. Kakashi looked at her in surprise. The girl had been bouncing along, excitedly peering in all directions, when she'd suddenly reached for her holster with no apparent reason. Except that Kakashi could have sworn he'd caught a flicker of something, just as Narumi had thrown her kunai. Both her teammates were staring at her as if she'd run mad. Saburo was the first to get his voice back. "Narumi, what the heck are you doing?" She looked over at her teammates and pointed. "Saburo-kun, someones following us!" Kakashi walked over to the bushes, and parted them to have a look. He saw a rabbit, apparently too frightened to move, huddled just beneath the kunai, which was buried in the tree trunk above it's head. Saburo and Narumi had walked over, and Saburo, who seemed much recovered from his earlier guilt, threw his hands up. "Great, you've attacked a rabbit." Narumi flushed, and looked both embarrassed and guilty over her mistake. Kakashi however, was studying the thing intently. _'That's a snow rabbit...but it's coat is still white. We're well into summer, it should be brown by now.' _Turning, Kakashi surveyed his surroundings carefully, and with suspicion. _'If it's coat is still white, that means it's not only been raised indoors, but that it's been kept away from the light. A dark place, like a safe house. That serves only one purpose. A kawarimi of some kind. So they're already here.' _

Suddenly Kakashi sensed his enemy. And the attack he had just launched in the direction of Kakshi's gennin team. His eyes shot back to where Sasuke, Saburo, and Tazuna were standing over Narumi, who had knelt over the rabbit she had supposedly terrified. "Look out!" He cried, command entering his voice and causing the gennin to all snap to attention. An enormous sword suddenly came spinning out of the trees, heading directly for Tazuna. As it neared them, they all dove for the ground, and Kakashi was sure that his students felt the wind of it's passing. Sailing over their heads, the oversized blade bit deep into the trunk of a nearby tree quite high up. A shinobi landed on the handle of the sword as soon as it had stopped moving. Kakashi rose, and studied the man intensely. He wore long striped pants, and arm and leg warmers dyed in the standard camouflage pattern of Kirigakure. His chest was bare, and he wore bandages wrapped up his neck and over the lower half of his face, just as Kakashi wore his own mask. Kakashi recognized him instantly. Affecting confidence, he walked forward with his hands in his pockets, and cocked his head backwards to look up at the other man. "Well, well, if it isn't Zabuza Momochi. Nuke-nin of Kirigakure." Behind him, Kakashi heard shifting and the clink of metal. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Saburo reaching for his holster, trembling, but with his eyes fixed on the nuke-nin. Before he could try something stupid, Kakashi caught his eye, and shook his head. Then he turned back to Zabuza.

Eyeing the man, Kakashi took stock of his chances, considering the fact that he had his gennin team with him. Analysis result? Could be tricky. Shifting, Kakashi reached up for his hitae-ate, preparing to uncover his left eye. Zabuza watched him, and spoke. "Sharingan Kakashi, did I get that right?" Off to Kakashi's side, he saw Sasuke stiffen, eyes widening as he fixed his sensei with a shocked look. Zabuza continued. "It's too bad, but I'm afraid you'll have to hand over the old man." Kakashi ignored the implied threat, and called out to his team in his best 'you-will-obey-me-now-and-ask-questions-later' voice. "Manji formation! Protect the bridge builder, and stay out of this fight." Saburo and the other gennin shifted uncertainly, but Kakashi shoved the distraction out of his mind and adjusted his hitae-ate, opening his sharingan eye. The world suddenly jumped into view with an unnatural clarity, and he felt a corresponding drain on his chakra reserves. Nothing he wasn't used to. Zabuza turned fully towards him, eyes narrowed, voice smooth. "Well, looks like I get to see the sharingan in action. This is an honor." Narumi looked up at Kakashi, thoroughly confused. "Everyone keeps saying sharingan, sharingan. What the heck is sharingan sensei?" It was Sasuke who answered, his voice incredulous. "Sharingan is a special power that resides in the eyes, a dojutsu. Those who posses it can instantly comprehend any tai-,gen-, or ninjutsu that they see. But there's more to the sharingan than that. A lot more." Narumi and Saburo eyed their teammate nervously.

Zabuza's voice managed to convey his amusement. "Got it right boy, but that's only barely scratching the surface." Suddenly a heavy mist rolled in, despite the fact that the sky had been clear and bright only a few seconds ago. Kakashi narrowed his eyes, recognizing a native technique of Kirigakure. Zabuza's voice drifted down lazily as the fog thickened. "As for you, jounin, in the assignation squad of Kirigakure, we had a standing order to kill you on sight. Your profile was in our bingo book, it called you the man who copied over a thousand jutsu. The Copy Nin." Kakashi glared up at the man. This was not news to him, nor did it surprise him in anyway. None of it was relevant to his current fight. In the background he vaguely heard Narumi exclaim admiringly, and he could feel the gazes of his other students as well. But he had a battle to focus on right now if they were to all get through this alive. His students were bright, and each of them held a certain amount of potential in one way or another. But none of that would matter if they ended up dead on their first mission outside the village. Zabuza suddenly seemed to lose patience. "Enough talking! I need to exterminate that old man." Kakshi heard his three students moving instantly to take up the manji formation he had ordered. While the action was somewhat more delayed than he had hoped, he was glad that they were in position. Kakashi himself didn't move.

Zabuza glared down at them all. "So I'll have to eliminate you first, eh Kakashi? So be it." Suddenly the nuke-nin gripped the handle of his weapon, and both vanished. He heard a sudden cry from Saburo. "He's over there, standing on the lake!" Kakashi had already turned to face the other man, eyeing him warily as he made a hand-sign. He eyed Zabuza grimly. _'He's building up a huge amount of chakra.' _Kakashi hadn't survived as long as he had by being careless. He watched Zabuza carefully to see what action the nuke-nin would take. Zabuza met his gaze evenly. "Kirigakure no jutsu!" As his enemy named his technique, his body seemed to dissolve into the mist surrounding them. Kakashi walked forward to stand between his team and the lake where Zabuza had stood a moment ago. Behind him he could hear Saburo and Narumi murmuring in surprsie. When he spoke, his voice was calm and reassuring. "He'll come after me first." Saburo sounded confused and worried. "But...who is he?" Kakashi kept his senses alert as he answered. It was important that the gennin understand how far over their heads this was, so they wouldn't try to intervene. "Zabuza Momochi, the ex-leader of Kirigakures assassination unit, and a master of the silent killing technique." Narumi's voice was hesitant when she questioned him. "Silent...silent killing?" Kakashi inclined his head slightly, still not looking at his team. "As the name suggests, death is instantaneous, and comes without warning. It's so fast that you'll pass from this life without realizing what has happened. Even my sharingan can't fully neutralize it, so don't lower your guard."

Behind him he could hear his students breath start to become shallow and halting, and realized that he'd given them quite a fright. While it was good they understood their position, he couldn't let them sink into terror. That would only slow their reaction time and cause them to freeze up again. Purposefully making his tone light and irreverent, he tossed another comment over his shoulder. "But if we fail, we'll only lose our lives." Narumi made a noise of choked indignation, Sasuke's eyes bored into his back, and Saburo yelped "How can you say that, sensei?" Kakashi was pleased that they'd been pulled back to a state of reasonably calm alertness so easily. Neglecting to answer Saburo's exclamation, he turned his full attention back to seeking out his enemy. After a moment, he heard Narumi speak "This mist...it just keeps getting thicker and thicker." Tazuna shifted and spoke for the first time since his would-be assassin had appeared, his voice rough and strained with anxiety. "The land of waves is surrounded by ocean. The mists are ever present here." Kakashi noted that Narumi had a point. The mist was continuing to thicken. Behind him he heard Saburo nervously call out. "Sensei?" Tazuna gasped, and Kakashi could practically feel the old mans fear spike into terror. The mist must have thickened enough to obscure him from the view of his team.

Zabuza's voice suddenly drifted out of the mist, as clear as if he stood at Kakashi's shoulder. From Saburo's startled gasp, he sounded just as close to the gennin. "Eight points. Larynx, spine, lungs, liver, jugular, subclavian artery, kidneys, heart. Now...which will be my kill point?" Behind him, he could feel the sudden wash of nervous fear from his students, but to their credit, they made no sound. Kakashi narrowed his eyes. It was true that those were the eight points that would guarantee you an instant kill. Any shinobi of chuunin rank or higher could list them backwards and forwards. It was a matter of course when war, killing, and battle were your way of life. But the way Zabuza was listing them was nothing but a cheap and flashy intimidation technique, meant to frighten civilians and gennin. Shameful really.

Annoyed, Kakashi decided that he had had enough of the cloying mist, and the enemy's exploitation of his students lack of experience. Bringing his hands together in a basic sign, he gathered his chakra, and shoved outwards, causing a small shockwave that blew the mist surrounding him and his students back. Visibility was still terrible, but at least he could see the gennin again. Sweat was beginning to bead at their temples, and he was sure that they were all being pumped full of adrenaline, but they maintained their formation. Zabuza suddenly sent a wave of sakki washing over them. Kakashi narrowed his eyes and countered with a wave of his own sakki. Suddenly he heard shifting, and the slight squeak of a hand gripping slightly too tightly around a kunai hilt. Kakashi instantly glanced over his shoulder, just in time to see Sasuke. The boy's eyes were wide, and his pupils were dilated. He was sweating more than his teammates, and he grasped his kunai in both hands, no longer in a defensive position, but turning the blade back towards himself. Kakashi swore mentally. Sakki was never pleasant the first time you experienced it, but it seemed like Sasuke was having a particularly adverse reaction, and both Narumi and Saburo were too busy struggling with their own fear to notice the imminent danger of the Uchiha. "Sasuke!" Kakashi snapped over his shoulder, and the boy jerked his face up, meeting his sensei's eyes with a wild look. "Calm down. I'll protect you with my life. All of you. I will not allow my comrades to die...trust me." Despite his cool tone, Kakashi smiled slightly over his shoulder at his students. He knew it wasn't the most reassuring smile, but it seemed to be enough. Sasuke took a deep breath, and while he seemed dazed, he was no longer on the brink of committing suicide. Narumi and Saburo also relaxed a bit, the tight set of their shoulders loosening as they glanced over at Kakshi with nervous eyes.

Zabuza's voice suddenly hissed out of the mist surrounding them. "I wouldn't be so sure." Kakashi spun. The man had appeared behind Saburo and Sasuke, his sword positioned to attack, and his back to Tazuna. "It's over." Kakashi's sharingan widened, and he focused intently on the enemy ninja who was now far too close to his green students for his own comfort. Before Zabuza could swing his blade, Kakashi acted. As the gennin and Tazuna sprang away from the predatory man in their midst, Kakashi moved forward and swiftly plunged a kunai deep into the mans abdomen. There was an instant of frozen silence...and water ran down the blade and over Kakashi's hand to spill to the ground. Narumi suddenly cried out. "Sensei, behind you!" The mizu bunshin dispersed as Kakashi started to turn. Behind him Zabuza shouted. "DIE!" and swung his sword in one stroke that was meant to chop Kakashi in half. Kakashi watched the shock on the mans half concealed face as he destroyed Kakashi's own mizu bunshin, rather than Kakashi himself. Kakashi shot to the nuke-nin's back, and lifted a kunai knife to his throat. "Don't move." He growled. Zabuza froze. "Now it's over."

The gennin surrounding them were frozen, starring at the two motionless jounin. Then Narumi whooped, a wide grin spreading across her face. "Alright! Way to go Kakashi-sensei!" Saburo chuckled, tilting his head down as a smaller version of narumi's grin spread across his face. However, their celebratory spirit was short lived. Zabuza laughed, low and menacing, despite the blade hovering against his throat, and when he spoke, his voice was amused. "Finished?" Kakashi narrowed his eyes warily at the back of Zabuza's dark head. "You really don't get it, do you? Your technique is nothing but a poor imitation. I'll never be defeated by a mere copy-cat such as yourself, Hatake." Kakashi growled angrily at the man, indignant. While he'd certainly prefer to have his enemies underestimate him, that didn't mean he had to enjoy being insulted. "You are full of surprises though. You'd already copied my mizu bunshin technique when you made your little speech to the boy. Very skillfully executed. You made your clone speak to draw my attention, while you hid in the mist and waited for me to make a move." There was a pause as the nuke-nin glanced over his shoulder at Kakashi. "Nice try..." Another presence appeared at Kakshi's back, and suddenly Zabuza's gravely voice was at his shoulder. "...but I'm not that easy to fool!" Kakashi twisted his upper body, slashing through the throat of the figure in front of him, dispersing yet another mizu bunshin as he half-turned towards Zabuza. Narumi cried out in confused anger off to his side as he turned "Wha-? That was a clone too?" Kakashi however, was occupied by the blood thirsty shinobi behind him, who was swinging his sword even as Kakashi turned to face him. Using the momentum of his turn, Kakashi dropped to the ground in a crouch, effectively ducking beneath the swing of the blade.

The weight of the oversized weapon caused it to continue in its arcing path, and bury the tip of the blade solidly in the earth. In an instant, Zabuza changed his grip on the handle, and used the sword to brace himself and gain greater leverage as he shot one leg towards Kakashi in a devastating sidekick. Kakashi grunted as Zabuza's foot landed squarely and sent him shooting off the ground and towards the lake. As he flew threw the air, he heard Zabuza's voice beneath and behind him. "Now." He heard the other man yank his weapon from the ground and charge after him. Reaching into his holster and twisting his body, Kakashi quickly flung a handful of Makibishi spikes into the other mans path, halting his advance momentarily. Then Kakashi was splashing heavily into the water, sinking beneath it's surface. Kakashi grimaced, suppressing the urge to suck in a breath as his body registered the impact with the water. Twisting, he swam back up towards the air, and surfaced, drawing in a quick breath as he frowned at the water around him. _'This isn't normal water...it's dense...heavy.'_ Before he could further contemplate the oddness of the lake he was currently half-submerged him, Zabuza appeared behind him, standing on the surface of the water as he made a hand sign to channel his chakra. "Fool! Suiro no jutsu!" Kakashi shot around to glare over his shoulder at the other man, locking his sharingan on him. _'Shimata!'_ Then the water rose suddenly around him, forming a thick, swirling shell that enclosed him and held him prisoner. _'Escaping into the water...bad mistake.'_

Kakashi glared at the chuckling Zabuza from within his prison. "This prison is made of water, but it's stronger than steel. It's hard to fight when you can't move. So much for the great Kakashi. I'll finish you off later, but first..." Zabuza turned away from him, eyes going to the three gennin on shore who were still loosely grouped around Tazuna, their eyes fixed on the two jounin. "...your little brats will have to be eliminated." Lifting his free hand into a sign, Zabuza muttered under his breath. "Mizu bunshin no jutsu." Kakashi lifted his head in agitation as another Zabuza clone rose from the water halfway towards the shore, and Kakashi's students. _'He's stronger than I expected.' _

Zabuza fixed a cruelly amused gaze an the three gennin, who stood watching the approaching danger with frightened eyes. "You think wearing a hitae-ate makes you shinobi? When you've faced death so many times that it doesn't bother you, then you may be called a shinobi. When you've become so deadly that your profile shows up in my bingo book, then, you may have earned the title of Shinobi." As he spoke, the mizu bunshin advanced onto the shore, and lifted a hand to form a sign, and this time, it was the clone who spoke. "But to call upstart brattlings like you shinobi...that's just a joke." And then the clone vanished into the mist. Kakashi saw his students tense, eyes darting around as they tried to find the jounin menacing them. Then Zabuza suddenly reappeared, planting a vicious kick on Narumi's chest, and sending her flying backwards through the air. The girl cried out, her hitae-ate flying up into the air as the knot came loose, and when she landed, she skidded painfully across the ground.

As the girls hitae-ate fell back to the ground, Zabuza stamped on it, grinding it into the dirt. "You're nothing but snot-nosed kids." Sasuke and Saburo both jumped, and turned to look in horror at the blonde. Sasuke's eyes widened, and Saburo cried out in horror. "Narumi! Are you alright!" Kakashi growled again, and cried out to his team in a sharp voice. "Listen, get the bridge builder and run! You can't win this fight!" Kakashi turned his eyes to Narumi, who was still on the ground, turned on her side and staring at the mizu bunshin with terror and desperation. "He has to stay in contact with the Suiro no Jutsu to hold me, so he can only attack you with his mizu bunshin. But that will disperse if it moves to far away from his original body. If you get away from him, he can't follow! Now run!" The gennin stood in shock, trembling with fear but not yet moving. Kakashi was alarmed to see pride flare in Sasuke's eyes as the boy gritted his teeth. The boy was too much like Kakashi used to be, and the older shinobi feared that he was about to get his teammates killed. Sasuke glanced between Narumi and Saburo, both of whom were still staring at the mizu bunshin with wide eyes. Then the boy looked back at him, and Kakashi saw something in his eyes besides pride, a furiously working mind. Then the boy growled out "We've got to rescue Sensei!" With a grunt of effort, the dark haired boy charged the bunshin, sending shuriken flying at the thing as he ran. The bunshin merely pulled out its sword, and deflected the small flock of shuriken with a single swing of the blade. Sasuke sprang high into the air, attempting to attack from above.

The bunshin looked up at him with dismissive eyes. "Too easy." Then it reached up and caught the boy by the throat, holding him above it's head, and threw his struggling form off to the side. Sasuke crashed into the ground, and skidded in the opposite direction from Narumi. Saburo's eyes darted back and forth between his two teammates, obviously torn between going to his teammates, and continuing to stand between their enemy and the bridge builder, and the pink haired boy swore in frustration. "Shimatta! Sasuke!" Narumi had risen to a crouch, and watched with horror as the strongest of her teammates was tossed aside like a doll. Kakashi mentally cursed, and wished the damn kids would just make a run for it. The bunshin advanced on the blonde, who turned to look up at it with wide eyes. Kakashi saw the recognition of her own possible death flash through those eyes. Saw her half turn, planting her hand on the ground as if to run. Felt a burst of relief that at last his students would remove themselves from danger. And just as quickly felt that relief turn to ash as the girl froze, looking down at the hand she'd just planted on the ground. Her injured hand.

Kakashi saw the disappointment, and the strange contemplative look that flashed across her face. The words she'd spoken after the earlier attack suddenly rang through his head. _I'm going to be strong. I won't need saving anymore. _Kakashi felt a sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach as he watched her. He had a bad feeling about this.

Turning back towards the bunshin, the girl slowly rose to her feet, hands fisted at her sides, and eyes intent on her enemy. She gritted her teeth, and charged the jounin in front of her with a determined snarl. Kakashi looked on in horror. "Narumi, NO!" Saburo paled, and moved as if to dash after her "Narumi, you idiot! What the hell are you doing?" The bunshin just watched her come. "Hmph. Fool." As Narumi reached him, the bunshins larger mass blocked the girl temporarily from Kakashi's view. He saw the motion of its arm as it struck her, and saw her body fly back, rolling painfully across the ground to come to a stop at her teammates feet. Kakashi felt nearly dizzy with relief when he saw she was still breathing. Saburo went to his knees next to her, resting a trembling hand on her shoulder and scolding desperately. "What were you thinking, charging a jounin by yourself? Even Sasuke couldn't get to him! What the hell did you think you were doing?" Narumi shifted, shrugging Saburo's hand off her shoulder, and struggling into a crouch, obviously aching from the attack. Saburo stared at the girl, and Kakashi realized what had caught the boys attention and silenced his panicked rant. In Narumi's injured hand, she was clutching her hitae-ate. Both her teammates stared at her in surprise as the girl rose to her feet. When she spoke, she was still somewhat breathless, but her voice was firm. "Hey you...the freak with no eyebrows." Setting her shoulders and taking a deep breath, the girl ignored everyone else, focused on the nuke-nin in front of her. "Put this in that bingo book of yours. My name is Uzumaki Narumi. One day I'll become Hokage..." As she spoke, Narumi lifted her hitae-ate back to her forehead, and tied it snugly in place. "...and I never back down."

Never taking her eyes of of the bunshin, Narumi shifted into a battle stance and called back to Sasuke. "Oi, Sasuke. You hear me?" The Uchiha's dark eyes studied his teammate intensely, and his voice was attentive. "Yeah, I hear you." Her grin widened a bit. "I've got a plan." Sasuke snorted quietly. "So you're finally thinking about teamwork, huh?" Saburo glanced between the other two, and opened his mouth. Before he could say anything, Narumi turned her head slightly towards him. "Hey Saburo-kun, I need you to protect the old drunk, alright?" Saburo shut his mouth, and nodded once, backing up to resume a defensive position in front of Tazuna as Sasuke advanced to stand beside Narumi. The blonde used the back of her wrist to wipe a trickle of blood from a shallow cut on her cheek. "Alright, let's bring this guy down Sasuke." The bunshin they faced chuckled. "Big words from such a little girl."

Kakashi felt alarm shoot through his system at the tone of voice being used. "What are you doing, I told you to run! This fight was over the moment I got caught! Now take off already! Your mission is not to prove how brave you are, it's to save the bridge builder. Stay on mission!" Narumi frowned, but looked back at Tazuna questioningly. "Tazuna-san?" The old man frowned. "Well, I guess this all happened because of me, because I was determined to live. But I won't stand in your way on this. Go ahead do what you have to do. Fight to save your sensei!" Kakashi could have roared in frustration. He didn't WANT them to fight to save him, he wanted them to survive their first real mission, thanks all the same! Kakashi had survived the third great shinobi war, and he could certainly survive Momichi Zabuza. The same could not be said for his very young, very green team. His students, however, took this as permission to go ahead with their plan.

Sasuke looked back towards the bunshin, and spoke to Narumi. "Alright, you hear that?" Narumi nodded once. "You ready?" The Zabuza bunshin broke out laughing. "You really haven't learned anything, have you? Still playing your little game, pretending to be shinobi. When I was your age, I'd already bathed in the blood of many enemies." Kakashi shot a glance sideways at Zabuza, and muttered under his breath. "The demon of Kirigakure." Zabuza was still watching the scene in front of him, but his words were addressed to Kakashi. "Oh, so I was in your book too, huh?" Kakashi suddenly hit on idea. Perhaps he could use the mans past to frighten his students into running. Turning back to look at the three of them, he caught and held their gaze. "Used to be in Kirigakure, before an academy student could become a shinobi, there was one final test."

Zabuza glanced down at Kakashi with interest. "Do you know of the graduation exam?" Narumi frowned. "What's the big deal? We had graduation tests too, ya know." Zabuza laughed scornfully. "Did you have to kill the other students to pass?" Narumi blanched, and Saburo shifted back half a pace. "Thats...that's so cruel." Kakashi stared his students down, willing them to understand. "The graduation exam of Kirigakure changed ten years ago. Mainly because of a certain event the previous year. A young boy, a civilian, approached the class...and slaughtered them all. An entire generation of Kirigakure shinobi, gone. That boy became known as Momichi Zabuza, demon of Kirigakure." The Zabuza clone looked absorbed in memories. "It-it felt so..." Then his eyes snapped down to Narumi and Sasuke. "...GOOD!" Sasuke and Narumi jerked, the expressions on there faces a blend of horror and disgust.

Sasuke's eyes widened, and suddenly Zabuza was in front of him, and he was flying backwards across the ground. Kakashi saw Narumi turn to look as Zabuza followed the boy and slammed his elbow into his gut. Sasuke's face jerked back, and a quick burst of blood flew from his mouth. Saburo half turned, and cried out. "Sasuke!" Kakashi's eyes widened, and his mind worked furiously, trying to find a way out of the damned Suiro. Zabuza stomped on Sasuke's torso as the boy lay prone on the ground, resting a foot heavily on the exact spot he'd just struck. Sasuke groaned, one eye tightly closed while the other remained locked on the bunshin above him. The bunshin looked calmly back, and ground it's foot down. Sasuke's other eye snapped closed, and he cried out in pain, gritting his teeth as he fought to remain silent. Kakashi felt raw anger course through his veins, and wanted nothing more than to drive a nice sharp kunai into Zabuza's body. The bunshin continued to torment Sasuke, a dark chuckle once again escaping it's lips. "You're nothing."

Narumi's hands shot together, forming the hand sign specific to the kage bunshin no jutsu, as she growled angrily at the bunshin. "Stop right there!" Suddenly over twenty Narumi's were surrounding Zabuza's bunshin, each of them looking absolutely livid about the treatment of her teammate. Zabuza nearly crooned to himself as his eyes flicked slowly over the surrounding figures. "Oooh. Kage bunshin. And there's quite a few of them." Kakashi watched wide-eyed as each of the Narumi's drew a Kunai at the same time, and narrowed their eyes at the mizu bunshin. When they spoke, it was an echoing chorus. "Here we go!" The mizu bunshin stepped forward, moving away from Sasuke, and allowing the Uchiha to flip over and rise to his knees, a thin stream of blood tracing a red line across his chin from the corner of his mouth.

The Narumi's leapt into the air, and attacked, landing on top of and around Zabuza in a close knit circle that effectively blocked him from her teammate, who watched with dark eyes. The mizu bunshin growled and heaved, sending the Narumi's flying away from him. As the multiple blonde figures skidded across the ground, they began to disperse with puffs of white smoke. One of them flipped onto her back as she skidded, and rummaged around in her pack. "I'm not giving up, I've still got this!" As she came to a stop a few meters behind Sasuke, she threw a folded fuma shuriken towards him with a quick call of his name as a heads up. "Sasuke!" Sasuke launched himself up off the ground and caught the thing with a triumphant cry. Kakashi saw the boys eyes widen slightly as he caught the thing, and watched the Uchiha spin a nearly a full turn to face the mizu bunshin with such an exaggerated motion that it clearly was a waste of movement. Kakashi really needed something to punch. If his gennin were still at the stage where even the strongest was pulling out such flashy moves in an actual fight, there was no way they were going to survive this battle. The mizu bunshin cocked his head curiously at the two gennin, and Narumi grinned cheekily up at him from where she sat, obviously confident that the fuma shuriken would prove a turning point.

Sasuke unfurled the fuma shuriken, and Zabuza scoffed. "A shuriken? You'll never touch me with that." Sasuke ignored the taunt, and leaped high into the air, whipping his body around to launch the over-sized weapon towards his target. To the surprise of both Kakashi and Zabuza, the weapon curved right past the mizu bunshin, and headed straight for Zabuza's real body. Zabuza watched the weapon fly toward him dispassionately. "Smart." He murmured. As the fuma shuriken reached him, he reached out and caught it with his free hand. "But not smart enough!" Then his head snapped up in surprise as he saw yet another fuma shuriken, this one black, flying towards him in the exact same path. Kakashi stared. _'A second shuriken in the shadow of the first. The kage fusha technique. Nice!' _All three of Kakashi's students watched the shuriken fly towards their enemy with intense looks on their faces. Zabuza waited until the last possible moment, and then jumped straight up, lifting his legs just enough that the second shuriken sailed under him, while the hand that held the Suiro no jutsu didn't move. "I told you, a shuriken can't touch me!" Saburo looked alarmed...but Kakashi saw Sasuke's lips curve into a tiny smirk. As the second fuma shuriken sailed past Zabuza, Kakashi turned to look at it. And saw it suddenly transform into Narumi. Narumi with a kunai in her hand. The girl fixed her eyes on Zabuza, and hurled the kunai towards him.

Kakashi stared in blank surprise at his student as the kunai sailed back towards Zabuza. The other jounin twisted his body, yanking back his arm to avoid the weapon, and in doing so released the Suiro that had held Kakashi captive.

Even as Zabuza twisted away, the kunai managed to slice a thin cut just beneath his eye, while the kage bunshin of Narumi back on shore dispersed. The enraged shinobi released the mizu bunshin, allowing it to dissolve as he turned back toward Narumi with a growl, his pupils dilated with anger. As he turned, Zabuza set the fuma shuriken he'd caught spinning, obviously aiming for Narumi as his eyes tracked her body's descent through the air towards the lake surface. Saburo yelled, and Sasuke sucked in a breath, watching with wide eyes. Narumi clenched her teeth, staring at the enemy jounin as he faced her and hissed a threat. "I'll destroy you!" Kakashi set his jaw angrily, and shot around in front of the man, raising his fist to catch the spinning blade of the fuma as Zabuza brought it around to release. The curved blade bit deep into the back of his fist, and thick blood welled up from the wound to drip across his fingers. Kakashi grunted and gritted his teeth against the pain. Behind him, he heard a splash as Narumi dropped into the lake. Finally free to attack the man who'd just tried to kill his team, Kakashi raised his head, and peered dangerously through the limp, wet strands of silver-gray hair that hung over his hitae-ate and eyes. His sharingan burned up at the nuke-nin in front of him. Zabuza's eyes widened, and he looked decidedly nervous. Back on shore, Saburo cheered. "Yeah! Kick his butt, Kakashi-sensei!"

Narumi surfaced with strands of her golden hair plastered to her face and struggling loose from her braid, gasping for air, but beaming up at Kakashi as he stood on the undulating water above her. Though he didn't look away from Zabuza, it was her that Kakashi addressed when he spoke. "Narumi, that was an excellent plan. You've really grown, haven't you?" Narumi flushed a little, and laughed excitedly, adrenaline still singing through her veins, and combining with a sense of elated triumph. "You better believe it Sensei! Me n' Sasuke just kicked the freaks butt!" Tazuna snorted back on shore. "Hah, nothing but a fluke." Kakashi glanced once at his bright haired student, and then over at Sasuke. _'You can call it a fluke, but the teamwork she and Sasuke showed was flawless. On the D-rank missions there was constant rivalry between them, and Narumi was always trying to one-up Sasuke. But when it came down to it just now, they worked together perfectly, without even having to discuss their plan.' _Kakashi felt a sense of pride in his two students flower in his chest. His gaze was called back to Zabuza when the other spoke, eyes narrowed as he stared down Kakashi. "Ha, lucky. I got distracted and lost my grip on the Suiro." Kakashi's eyebrows snapped down and his eyes hardened. He would not tolerate a nuke-nin belittling his students achievements. "Don't flatter yourself. You weren't distracted, you were forced to let go." Zabuza glared at him hotly, obviously not pleased at the declaration. "Your technique worked on me once, but it won't happen again. So what's it gonna be, Zabuza?" In the tense silence that followed, Kakashi heard Sasuke murmur something to Saburo under his breath, followed by the sounds of shifting as both of the boys took up defensive positions in front of Tazuna.

Turning his fist so that the blade of the fuma was resting on the metal plate sewn to the back of his glove, Kakashi exerted his strength, and knocked the thing away, tearing it from Zabuza's hand and sending it spinning away into the mist. The two jounin leapt back and away from each other, gaining distance, but keeping their eyes locked on one another. As they landed, Kakashi caught the other man with his Sharingan. Then they both launched into a series of hand signs, identical to each other. At the same moment, they both cried out. "Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu!" From the water between them rose two identical dragons formed entirely of water, with glowing eyes of chakra. The dragons rose, twisting gracefully around each other before soaring towards their individual targets. Halfway there, they crashed into each other, collapsing into great sprays of water that crashed down on the two jounin. As the water from the jutsu thundered back into the lake, it caused a wave that enveloped Narumi, and crashed over the shore, dousing Saburo, Sasuke, and Tazuna, while having no effect on the two jounin. Somewhere off to the side, Narumi bobbed up out of the water, but Kakashi couldn't spare a thought to worry about the jutsu's effect on her. He was busy struggling to block Zabuza's over-sized sword with a kunai. As the two jounin struggled against each other, Kakashi saw a flash of unease in Zabuza's eyes. Springing away from each other, the two jounin mirrored one another's movements, darting around each other and making the same gestures. Kakashi carefully used his sharingan on the other man, watching the doubt and alarm grow in his eyes.

When he saw the question grow in his eyes, Kakashi spoke out loud, as if completing a sentence. "-going to do next?" Zabuza jerked back as if burned, and seemed more alarmed than ever. Kakashi narrowed his eyes slightly. Perfect. He wanted this man as far from a calm and collected mental state as possible. When he saw irritation flicker across the mans face, he spoke quietly. "Makes you furious, doesn't it?" Zabuza scoffed, though his eyes were still wide. "Hah, all you're doing is copying me like a monkey." Kakashi mirrored his changing hand sign, and spoke in chorus with his enemy. "You can't beat me with cheap tricks. I'll crush you." Zabuza's eyes shot even wider open, and he launched into a long series of hand signs. "When I finish with you, you'll never open that monkey mouth again!" Kakashi ignored the threat, and concentrated on utilizing the hypnotic ability of the sharingan to lure the man into using the same jutsu as himself, half a second too slow. When the other man hesitated, Kakashi took the opportunity to crush him. "Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu!" Zabuza's eyes widened. "What?" Before he could say more the water at Kakashi's feet swirled up in front of him, and roared towards his enemy in a great vortex. Kakashi faintly heard Zabuza's cry over the roaring crash of the water, but knew that the other shinobi had been swept away by the current. Somewhere off to the side, Kakashi knew that Narumi was struggling to stay afloat in the tossing waters. He glanced off towards her just in time to see the waves throw her up against a bank. Twisting, the girl had the presence of mind to grab a fairly sturdy sapling, and hang onto it. His other students were still in their defensive positions in front of Tazuna, but they'd thrown up their arms to shield their eyes from the stinging spray and strong wind created by the jutsu.

As the jutsu receded, Kakashi pinpointed Zabuza's location, and leapt towards him, sending four kunai soaring towards him. One kunai pierced each of the mans limbs, causing Zabuza to throw his head back and cry out in pain. Kakashi landed on a branch in the tree above Zabuza, glaring down at the man who had dared to threaten his students. "You're finished." Slowly the water summoned by the jutsu receded back into the lake. As the water withdrew from around him, and left him standing on solid ground, Zabuza looked up at Kakashi. "How? Can you...see into the future?" Kakashi stood, glaring down at the man, his voice cold and dangerous as he raised a kunai. "Yes...this is your last battle. Ever."

Suddenly, two senbon embedded themselves deeply in the side of Zabuza's neck. His body jerked with the impact, and blood spurted from the wounds. Kakashi's eyes snapped to the place from which the senbon had been thrown. There stood an oinin of Kirigakure, watching calmly from his branch as Zabuza's limp body crashed to the ground. When the oinin spoke, his voice was young and gentle. "You were right. It was his last battle." Kakashi looked at the oinin for a moment, then shifted his eyes to Zabuza. Leaping down next to the fallen form of his enemy, he knelt by his head and looked closely at the two senbon embedded in his neck. Reaching over, he felt for a pulse. And found nothing. He looked up at his students as Narumi hauled herself out of the water, and sighed. "No vital signs." Then he shifted his gaze back to the very young sounding oinin. The boy bowed. "Thank you. I've been tracking Zabuza for a long time, waiting for this chance to take him down."

Kakashi glared up at the boy suspiciously. "By your mask, I see that you're an oinin from Kirigakure." The boy looked up. "Impressive. You're well informed. Yes, I'm an oinin. It was my duty to stop Zabuza." Kakashi frowned up at the boy. _'He's no ordinary kid...but what is he? He can't be that much older than Saburo and Sasuke.' _Behind him, Kakashi heard Narumi move to join the others. Sasuke had apparently called her a dobe again, and she was launching into her usual reprisal. Standing, Kakashi walked back to his team, and dropped his hand on Narumi's head. The dripping girl looked up at him in surprise, halting her indignant outburst at Sasuke about not calling her a dobe. Kakashi's eyes softened as he looked down at the three of them. "Are you kids alright?" Saburo nodded, eyes bright. "We're fine sensei." The oinin vanished from his branch, and reappeared next to Zabuza's body. Leaning over, he picked up Zabuza's body, draping the larger mans arm around his neck and bracing his other shoulder against the corpses chest as he stood. "I must deal with Zabuza's body. It contains many of the secrets of our people, and those secrets must not be allowed to get into the wrong hands."

Lifting one hand into a hand sign, the boy nodded to Kakashi once. "Please excuse me. Farewell." And with that, both Zabuza and oinin vanished. Narumi started out from under Kakashi's hand, and took a step forward to stand beside him, staring wide eyed. "He disappeared!" Kakashi sighed, and lifted his hand to pull his Hitae-ate down over his sharingan. Then he turned back to Saburo and Sasuke. "We still haven't completed our mission yet. We still have to get the bridge builder to his bridge." Tazuna laughed uneasily, and tipped his wide, bowl-shaped hat back on his head. "Sorry I caused all this trouble for ya. But you can rest at my house when we get to the village." Kakashi nearly rolled his eyes. "Alright, let's get a move on." Turning, he went to walk away. And suddenly became aware that he'd used far, far too much chakra in that battle. His eye shot wide open, and he fell forward, his body refusing to carry him any further now that the danger had passed. As he hit the ground, he heard his students running towards him, and mentally cursed. As the blackness of unconsciousness closed in on him, he had a moment to thank the kami that his instincts and reactions from the war had kept the chakra exhaustion from striking him in the midst of the battle. And then he knew nothing.


	5. An Encounter

Kakashi slowly blinked his eye open, squinting up at the blurry ceiling above him that was slowly resolving into a coherent image. As he returned to consciousness he took quick stock of his surroundings. He was lying on a well worn, comfortable futon, and his headband had been tugged back down over his left eye. Absently he noted that his students had shown fair judgment in getting him somewhere indoors, and replacing his headband. A wave of weakness suddenly washed over Kakashi, and he frowned up at the unfamiliar, cracked surface above him, silently cursing. "Kuso! I used the sharingan too much."

Suddenly a woman came into view above him, peering down suspiciously at his prone form. Her blue-black hair was a lighter shade than Sasuke's, and was worn long and loose. Her hands were propped contemplatively on her hips, and her manner of speaking held a rough kindness. "Are you alright, Sensei?" Kakashi blinked slowly up at her, wondering where his gennin were as he answered her question. "No...I'll barely be able to move for a week."

As he spoke, the jounin slowly pushed himself into a sitting position, doubling over with a pained grunt as a dull pain shot through his left side. The woman eyed him with a no-nonsense look. "You shouldn't move around for a while, then." She glared down at him, and Kakashi met her gaze evenly. She had a point there. After a minute he inclined his head. "Aa." Slowly, he lowered himself back onto the futon, taking a deep breath as he relaxed back onto the comfortable pad.

As he did, he heard footsteps hurrying towards him. One heavy, thumping gait that could only belong to a civilian, along with three sets of light, quick steps that had to be his team. He was proven right as the three gennin and their client rounded the corner of the doorway in front of him. Saburo was the first to come around the corner, and his jade green eyes lit up as he caught sight of Kakashi. The boy called out over his shoulder to the others as he moved further into the room to stand at the foot of the futon. "Sensei's awake!" Sasuke and Narumi were quick to follow after their rosy haired companion, closely followed by the old bridge builder.

Saburo dodged around the futon, and came to kneel at Kakashi's left side, unconsciously covering his sensei's blind side. "The sharingan sure is amazing, Sensei, but it seems to put a lot of strain on the body. I'm not sure if it's a really worth it." Kakashi caught a glimpse of Sasuke's indignant glare, but Saburo didn't seem to notice the Uchiha's displeasure. However, Sasuke quickly turned his attention back to Kakashi, and the jounin realized that his team was worried for him. His voice softened as his lone visible eye flicked over the stressed, concerned looking youngsters, noticing that Saburo was not the only one to have instinctively taken up a subtle defensive stance around him. "I'm sorry for worrying you kids."

Before his students could reply, Tazuna piped up, his voice cheerful. "But the past is the past! You've defeated such a powerful ninja, we'll surely be okay for a while!" Saburo made a non-comital noise in his throat, his hand rising contemplatively to his chin as his eyes grew thoughtful. "Speaking of Zabuza, I wonder who that boy was. The one in the mask who took his body." Kakashi glanced over at the boy, impressed that he'd though to ask the question. Kakashi had been thinking about the boy ever since they first encountered him. Something had seemed off about him, and Kakashi hadn't survived as long as he had by ignoring his instincts. His voice, when he answered Saburo, was quiet. "He wore the mask of an oinin, a hunter nin, from Kirigakure. Oinin have...special duties." All three students homed in on him, but it was Saburo who voiced the question. "Special duties? What do you mean Sensei." Kakashi glared at the ceiling. "They are the squad assigned to deal with nuke-nin, along with the disposal of bodies. Basically, it's their duty to erase any and every trace of a shinobi's very existence."

Kakashi sighed, his eye sliding closed. He knew that this was important for his students to know, but he was not enjoying breaking this particular news to them. It was hard enough for full grown shinobi to accept, much less fresh gennin. "A shinobi's body contains many secrets. Jutsu and chakra unique to his village. Specific medicines that were used on him, and many other village secrets. For example, if I were to die, and my body were taken by an enemy shinobi, his village could gain the secrets of the sharingan. In the worst case scenario, ones techniques and strengths can be stolen. These secrets are carefully guarded by the hidden villages. So oinin hunt down nuke-nin, who have been exiled by, or have abandoned their village. They kill them, and dispose of the bodies, in order to protect the secrets of the village."

Suddenly Kakashi sat up, lifting one hand to his temple as a thought struggled to life in his mind. Narumi leaned forward and peered anxiously at him, blue eyes squinting uneasily. "What's wrong, Sensei?" Kakashi dropped his hand and looked up in surprise, his eye refocusing on his students. "Hm? Ah, what I was talking about before. It's bothering me." As he spoke, his thought resolved, and he didn't like the direction they were taking. "Oinin are supposed to dispose of the body on the spot." Saburo shifted back so that he was sitting a bit closer to Narumi, his eyebrows furrowed. "So?" Kakashi patiently continued with his train of thought. "What did the boy in the mask do with Zabuza?" Saburo scowled, obviously irritated. "How should I know? He took the body away."

Kakashi nodded once. "That's right. All he needed to bring back as proof to his village was the head. Also, the weapon he used to kill Zabuza was questionable." Sasuke frowned. "But it was just senbon..." Suddenly the boys dark eyes widened. "Wait...could it be that..." Kakashi's voice was grave when he spoke. "Aa. It's just what you're thinking." Saburo glanced over at his much admired hero in confusion, and Narumi dropped to the floor, crossing her legs and shooting Kakashi a questioning look. Before anything else could be said, Tazuna barged in, his expression irritated and confused. "What are you guys talking about?" Kakashi straightened a bit before speaking. "Zabuza is still alive."

Tazuna, Saburo, and Narumi all reared back, jaws dropping as they screeched indignantly. "EEEHHH?" Narumi waved her arms up and down frantically as she spoke. "What does that mean?" Saburo leaned forward, bracing one hand on his knee, and the other fisted on the floor in front of him. "But Kakashi-sensei, you checked that he was dead yourself!" Kakashi's voice was calm when he spoke, and his expression revealed nothing. "It's true that I confirmed his death. However, he was likely merely in a near-death state. Senbon, the weapon that the oinin used, have a low fatality rate unless they strike a critical point squarely. It's mostly used in acupuncture healing, and other medical endeavors. Oinin know the structure of the human body very well. As such, it would be easy for one of them to put a shinobi into a near death state with the use of senbon." Kakashi leaned back slightly, and began carefully listing off the reasons that had led him to this conclusion. "First, he took the corpse of Zabuza with him, even though it was obviously much heavier than him. Secondly, he used a weapon with a low fatality rate. From these two points, we can deduce that the boy was trying to help Zabuza, not kill him."

Tazuna scoffed, and when he spoke, his voice was incredulous. "Maybe you're just thinking too much, Shinobi-san." Kakashi shifted his gaze to the grizzled civilian who'd gotten them all into this mess in the first place, and when he spoke his voice was cool. "No. Once a shinobi feels that something is off, he must prepare for the worst scenario, before it's too late. This is one of the iron clad rules by which shinobi live and die." Narumi's wide blue eyes were fixed on Kakashi, her teeth bared in a feral grin, and her entire body trembling with excitement...and something else. Kakashi looked at her for a minute before it dawned on him what it was. Battle-lust. The jounin eyed her for a moment with surprise. Kunoichi were dangerous of course, as were their male counterparts. They were just as combat ready as any of the men among their comrades. However, they tended to lack the battle-lust Narumi was exhibiting, and usually specialized in ijutsu or genjutsu, filling indirect or supporting roles in a battle. Of course, there were exceptions to every rule. And Narumi was nothing if not an exception.

Saburo shifted to catch Kakashi's attention, his eyes earnest and nervous. "Sensei, how are you going to prepare for this? You're not going to be able to move for a while." Kakashi chuckled. "I'm going to train the three of you, of course." Saburo jumped, eyes widening. "Hang on a second! Even if we train, the three of us aren't going to be of much use in a fight! After all, this is the enemy that you had a hard time with, Kakashi-sensei!" Kakashi met the boys agitated glare calmly. "Saburo. Who was it who saved me when I had a difficult time? The three of you are growing at a rapid rate. Especially you Narumi." The blonde girl looked up in surprise when he mentioned her, her nose scrunching up perplexedly, creating a powerful resemblance to a fox kit.

Kakashi smiled at her, eye curving upwards in amusement. "You've grown the most." Narumi blinked at him once, then the corner of her mouth curved up into a pleased smile. Saburo glanced over at his teammate, eyes running over her calculatingly as she grinned at Kakashi. "Alright, now things are getting interesting!" A new voice suddenly came from behind the girl. "No, it's not." Kakashi looked beyond his students as they turned to face the newcomer. There stood a young boy, wearing coveralls and a hat that covered most of his head. The boy glared up at them all from under the brim of his hat. There was a moment, and then Narumi glared suspiciously back at the boy, thrusting a finger at him accusingly. "Who are you?" Tazuna brightened instantly, opening his arms to the boy. "Oh, Inari! Where were you?" The boy ran across the floor past the gennin, and wrapped his small arms around Tazuna in a hug. "I'm home, grandpa."

The woman who Kakashi had seen when he first woke stalked over from the other side of the room, braced her hands on her hips, and leaned over the boy with narrowed eyes, her voice scolding. "Inari, say hello to them. These are the ninja that escorted your grandfather home." Tazuna stroked the boys hat dotingly, a fond smile on his face. "It's okay. Right, Inari?" The boy turned his rebellious glare back on the three gennin, all of whom stared back at him, unimpressed and confused by the boys behavior. Inari stepped away from his grandfather, and turned to his mother, voice flat. "Mom, they're going to die. There's no way anyone can win against Gatoh." Narumi shot to her feet indignantly, raising a fist in front of her irately. "What did you say, you brat?" The girls blue eyes burned fiercely as a confident grin spread across her face. "Listen up. I'm going to become a hero, a great ninja known as Hokage. I don't know who this Gatoh guy is, but he doesn't scare me!" Inari snorted. "A hero? How stupid. There's no such thing as heroes."

Narumi yelped indignantly, and lunged for the boy. "What did you say?" Before she could reach him, Saburo sprang up and grabbed her, hooking his arms beneath her armpits, and planting his feet as he held the thrashing girl back. "Stop it, fool! He's a kid! Aren't girls supposed to have some sort of motherly instinct about these things?" Inari had already turned away, and glanced carelessly over his shoulder. "If you don't want to die soon, you should go home." Kakashi glanced over at his students. Saburo was still restraining an incensed Narumi, and Sasuke was watching the boy go with a slight frown. Tazuna watched the boy go, calling after him. "Where are you going, Inari?" The boy glanced over at his grandfather. "I'll go watch the ocean." Then he was gone.

Tazuna looked over at the gennin, his tone light and calm. "Sorry about that." Narumi gritted her teeth in frustration. Then she slid out of Saburo's grasp and dashed after the boy. "Damn brat! I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind!" Saburo yelped and made another grab for her, but she was already whipping around the door. Kakashi called out sternly. "Saburo!" The rosette turned to look at him in confusion, and Kakashi shook his head once. "Let her go. They'll be fine." Saburo glanced between Kakashi and the door, and nodded once, taking a seat beside Sasuke. Kakashi then looked over at Tazuna. "Alright. Now that that's taken care of. I was wondering if you might be able to get ahold of some crutches for me..."

The next day found Kakashi and his team in a clearing located in the forest a little distance from Tazuna's house. Kakashi was on crutches, but he was upright, and outside. He had to admit that he was relieved to be back on his feet, even if he did need help to stay there. Also, he was quite pleased by the eagerness being exhibited by his students. Narumi stood, body practically vibrating with eagerness, in front of him, eyes sparkling with anticipation for the training he'd promised them. The boys stood on either side of her, eyes focused on him. Sasuke was typically aloof and composed, but his dark eyes were every bit as intent as Narumi's eager blue ones. Saburo looked more nervous and on edge than his teammates, but his jaw was set, and his jade gaze didn't waver any more than theirs. Kakashi looked over the three of them, and was pleased by what he saw. Yes, his students ought to do fine with this. When he spoke, his voice was cheerful and even. "We will now begin the training." Narumi nodded once. "Roger!" Kakashi held up one finger. "But before that, let me once again talk about chakra, the base for our abilities as shinobi."

Sasuke's eyes slid closed as he tilted his head down, and his voice was bored when he spoke. "At a time like this?" Narumi brightened, ignoring the dark haired boy, and focusing on Kakashi. "I already know about that! It's the warm glowy stuff!" Kakashi rolled his eyes a bit in amusement. Warm glowy stuff. Narumi was certainly not turning out to be a classroom learner. Luckily, he had a certified 'brain' in his team, who was already familiar with this aspect of the blonde. "Hai, hai. If you would, Saburo-kun..." Saburo turned to look at Narumi, bracing a fist on his hip as he lectured. "Listen, Narumi. I'm going to explain it in a simple manner to save time. Chakra is energy that a ninja needs to use to utilize jutsu. That energy comes from the physical energy collected in every cell in the body, and the spirit energy that comes from training, experience, and will. In other words, jutsu are powered by these two energies when they are pulled out of the body, and molded together. This creates chakra. Once one has chakra, one is able to execute jutsu by forming a hand-sign."

Kakashi eyed the pink haired boy, then nodded once in approval. A very thorough explanation, if somewhat rigid and textbook. "Correct. Ikuye-sensei was blessed with an attentive student, I see." Saburo smirked in pride at the compliment. Narumi frowned impatiently at her crush, her cheeks heating slightly in embarrassment. " What's with that? You can just learn that stuff with your body even if you don't understand the hard stuff." Sasuke inclined his head, and Narumi seemed surprised when her rival agreed with her. "Exactly what Narumi said. We're able to use jutsu anyway." Kakashi kept his expression unchanged, but he was pleased to note that the Uchiha and the Uzumaki didn't seem to disagree merely for the sake of argument. "No. You guys aren't able to use your chakra completely yet."

Narumi's eyes shot wide open. "What?" Kakashi shifted his weight a bit on the crutches. "Listen up. Like Saburo said, molding the chakra means to extract energies from both body and spirit, and then combine them in your body. Also, the amount of each energy will differ from the type of jutsu to wish to execute. Eventually, shinobi are able to combine, mold, and apply chakra instinctively. However, right now, you are not able to use your chakra effectively. Even if you are able to mold a large amount of chakra, like Narumi," Here he glanced over at the blonde "if you cannot control the balance, your jutsu will only be half as effective, or fail altogether. Wasting energy in this fashion will create an inability to fight for long periods of time, and thus weaken your combat abilities.

Narumi blinked uncertainly at Kakashi. "So...what should I do?" Kakashi eyed her for a minute. Narumi was proving to be both combat oriented, and the type to learn through experience rather than explanation, an unusual combination indeed for a kunoichi. If she proved to have the raw potential for brute strength and stamina needed to back up her natural inclinations, this ought to be right up her alley. When he spoke, his voice was serious. "You're going to learn how to control it with your body, by undergoing rigorous training." Saburo shifted nervously, and then asked the question on all their minds. "So what are we gonna be doing?" Kakashi waited a moment, and then lifted a finger, eye grave. "Climbing a tree." Narumi straightened, face blank. "Climbing a tree?"

Kakashi kept his voice was firm. "That's right. But it's not ordinary tree climbing. You're going to climb without using your hands." Saburo seemed less than impressed. "How are we s'posed to do that?" Kakashi put his hands together in a sign. "Just watch." Then he dropped his hands to grab the crutches, turned, and slowly limped over to the nearest tree. Narumi gaped in shock as Kakashi reached the tree...and continued walking straight up the side of it, apparently unaffected by gravity.

Narumi gaped, and then mumbled. "He's climbing..." Saburo took up the sentence as her voice trailed off. "...vertically with just his legs." Kakashi walked out on the underside of a branch, and turned to look back at them. "Gather your chakra at the bottom of your feet, and make it attach to the tree. Something like this is only possible with the use of chakra." Saburo glared up at him, fists clenching. "Hold on a second, how are we supposed to get strong by doing that?" Kakashi nodded once. "Now we get to the main topic. The main purpose of this training is to gain a firmer control over and familiarity with your chakra. This will especially help you get control over accumulating the proper amount of chakra in the desired part of your body. This is difficult even for a well-trained shinobi. The amount of chakra used for this exercise is quite subtle, and the most difficult place to concentrate chakra is the bottom of your feet. In other words, if you are able to master this, you will be able to learn any kind of jutsu. In theory that is."

Kakashi held up three kunai, and threw them down so that one buried itself in the ground in front of each of the three gennin. Saburo started back half a step as the kunai flew towards him. Sasuke eyed the weapon cooly. Narumi stared down at the kunai in front of her, eyes traveling along the razor sharp edge. "Use the kunai to mark where you are able to climb up with your current abilities. Then try to make a new mark above that mark. You guys aren't good enough to climb the tree just walking, so run to give yourself a boost. Got it?" Narumi swallowed nervously, and then reached out and pulled her kunai from the ground. "Too easy!" The boys both grabbed their own kunai, and joined Narumi in striking a meditative position, eyes closed, hands folded into a simple hand-sign as they focused on their chakra.

Kakashi watched as the three of them gathered their chakra, their chakra signatures spiking subtly as they worked on gathering it into the bottoms of their feet. Narumi's eyes shot open, and she grinned determinedly at the tree as she set herself to run at it. "All right! Let's go!" She charged the tree in front of her at the same time as the two boys charged theirs, and started up it. She managed to go a few steps up the tree, before too little chakra caused her foot to slip, and she crashed down onto her back with a pained yelp. Above her, Sasuke was running steadily up his tree, his upper body leaning forward as he went as if he were fighting gravity with every part of his body. Suddenly the bark beneath his foot shattered under the pressure of his chakra, leaving a deep footprint as he began to slip backwards. As he started to fall, he jerked forward and slashed at the bark, leaving a deep slash across the tree trunk a few feet off the ground. Then he somersaulted backwards through the air to land lightly on one knee.

The Uchiha glared up at the tree as if it was his personal enemy, and Narumi scowled over at him. Kakashi could practically feel the increase in competitive energy. Suddenly Saburo's voice rang out from somewhere off to the side of Kakashi. "Hey, this is easier than I thought!" Kakashi turned his head to glance over into the tree next to him as Narumi jumped to her feet, craning her neck to look up into Saburo's tree in shock. "Saburo-kun!" The rosy haired boy was perched comfortably on a branch high above his teammates, leaning forward to grin down at them with his arms resting across his knees, and his legs swinging playfully. The kunai was buried casually in the trunk next to him, and he'd squinted one eye closed in a mischievous expression of delight.

Kakashi blinked, and his voice was wry. "Oh? It looks like the one who is the best at chakra control is Saburo." Inwardly he was quite surprised. It seemed the dynamic of this team was going to be more than a little unusual. If what he was seeing now was an accurate indication, they were going to have the kunoichi as the heavy hitter, and one of the boys in the supporting role. He supposed that if Sasuke were to follow the pattern, he would end up a ninjutsu or weapons specialist. Narumi beamed excitedly up at Saburo, flushing slightly and clapping her hands. "Awesome, Saburo-kun! That's amazing! To get it right your first try is so cool. " She faltered a bit, and glanced down. Kakashi eyed her. Most kunoichi her age were more concerned with the boys around her than any training. But while Narumi most definitely had it bad for Saburo, she also seemed annoyed by the ease with which he'd beaten her. Sasuke glanced away and muttered under his breath. "Kuso."

Kakashi smiled over at Saburo, who had flushed a bit when Narumi complimented him, but dropped his head with a discouraged sigh when his hero had cursed. "Your knowledge of chakra was splendid, and you also have good stamina and control. Maybe it's Saburo, and not a certain someone else, who is closest to becoming Hokage right now." Narumi closed one eye, half scowling as she peered up at her sensei with resignation. Kakashi suppressed the urge to grin. Then the jounin's gaze slid over to Sasuke, and he continued. "The Uchiha clan isn't as great as I thought either." Sasuke furrowed his brow, the corner of his mouth curling up in a silent growl at the prod to his clan pride. Saburo growled, shaking a fist at Kakashi. "Oi! Shut up, Sensei!"

Kakashi ignored the rosette, watching the other two to see how they would react to his comments. Narumi glanced over, and locked gazes with the dark boy at her left. The two glared ferociously at each other. Narumi broke the deadlock first, looking back at her tree with a feral grin. "Alright, I'm going to master this before Sasuke-teme! I'm going to do this!" Sasuke snorted, and shifted back to face his own tree. Narumi's feral grin spread a bit, as if she were privy to an inside joke, and Kakashi puzzled over that before dismissing it. As his students were preparing for their next run, he became aware that Inari's presence had moved away from the clearing and was heading back to the house. And that was for the best. This way, there was no chance he would pipe up and distract his students during their training. With a content sigh, Kakashi moved back towards the ground, where he need not expend chakra to watch the coming spectacle.

Hours later, Kakashi stood in a relaxed posture, still watching his team. Narumi was rushing up her tree. She was covered in scrapes and bruises, strands of her hair had begun to work themselves free of her loosening braid, and her clothes were smudged with dirt and grime. She had at least gained a better feel for her chakra, because when it began to waver she lunged forward, scoring the bark of the tree with her kunai before falling backwards. She twisted her body, managing to land heavily in a crouch.

Sasuke's tree was now scored with the marks of a kunai knife in a closely set crisscrossing pattern that extended a good three feet up from the the original mark and the footprint embedded in the bark from Sasuke's first effort. Sasuke himself was crouched not far from Narumi, similarly disheveled and covered in scrapes and bruises. The Uchiha was also panting heavily, his stamina apparently wearing thin more quickly than the kunoichi he was competing with. His dark eyes were fixed on the stretch of bark that he'd etched with a series of gashes.

Saburo was stretched out behind both of them on the ground, sprawled out with his head resting against the base of his tree. His chest was heaving up and down, and the bangs that flopped wildly over his hitae-ate were plastered to his skin with sweat. Unlike Sasuke and Narumi, who were still attempting to get to the halfway point of their trees without falling, Saburo had spent the entire time walking up and down his tree. Therefore, he lacked the extensive scrapes, bruises, and dusting of dirt that the others had gained through crashing repeatedly to the ground. While Saburo's control was far beyond either Sasuke or Narumi's he had eventually complained of exhaustion, claiming that he was burnt out, before collapsing onto the safety of the ground.

Narumi craned her neck back to stare up at the crosshatched pattern she'd carved into her tree. Kakashi watched as Saburo's eyes slid open and moved to watch the girl. He wasn't sure he liked the scornfully expectant look the boy fixed on his teammates back. While he was aware that Saburo was not personally fond of Narumi, that didn't mean he had to like seeing the other boy exhibit disdain for his teammate. Kakashi wondered if he should say something to the boy, but hesitated to bring it to Narumi's attention. Considering the girls life up to this point, she hardly needed to feel that she faced similar prejudice from her teammates.

Suddenly, Kakashi's attention was drawn to Narumi when she cursed loudly. "Kuso!" When Kakashi looked over to her, he found her on her feet, glaring at the tree indignantly. Suddenly, she brightened, whirled around, trotted over to Saburo, and crouched to look at him. Surprised, the rosette sat up, the scornful expression vanishing off his face as she leaned forward and brought her hand up to cup around her mouth as she spoke softly to him. "Hey, can you give me some tips?" Kakashi blinked, and increased chakra flow to his ears to hear her better as she spoke to the boy. "Just...don't tell Sasuke-teme, ne?"

Kakashi was surprised, and watched as Sasuke looked over to stare at Narumi's back in bemusement, obviously curious about the whispering. Then his eye slid back to the oblivious blonde girl. _'Huh, she's catching on. From now on she'll get stronger and stronger. After all, Narumi possess even greater raw reserves of chakra than Sasuke. In fact, her reserves even surpass my own.'_ As Kakashi watched Narumi and Saburo whispering back and forth, he felt a sense of pride, and expectancy flowering within him. _'You're going to be something, Narumi. I can't wait to see how you turn out.'_

* * *

><p>"Kuso!" Narumi sat on the ground, leaning back and supporting the weight of her battered and exhausted body on her arms, legs splayed out in front of her as she panted, squinting up at the tree in front of her in frustration. It was outlined against a beautiful sunset sky, washed in warm pinks, oranges, and purples. She had yet to conquer it. Growling in frustration, she shook her fist at it and shouted angrily. "What's with this thing!"<p>

Off to her left, Sasuke was half kneeling, an arm slung heavily across the leg that supported his weight, while his other hand was braced on the knee that touched the ground. He too was looking worse for wear, and he too was heaving for breath in the twilight, glaring up at his tree. Kakashi-sensei and Saburo had long since left, Kakashi to return to the house, and Saburo to guard Tazuna at the bridge, as he had already mastered the exercise.

Narumi heaved in another breath, gritted her teeth, and turned to glare at her dark haired rival. Sasuke glared right back at her with equal determination. Their eyes still locked on each other, they both stood at the same moment. Narumi's brows lowered and her glare intensified. _'I'm not going to lose to you!'_ Sasuke's face darkened as well. Then they both turned away, launching themselves across the clearing with a ferocious cry, and shooting up the trunks of the trees.

Narumi's body ached, and exhaustion was nagging relentlessly at her. Her stomach was rumbling for food, and she wanted nothing more than to collapse on the ground below the tree. Her braid was sagging, loose hair escaping it only to be matted to her neck with sweat. But she didn't think about any of that. She focused only on the constant burning flow of chakra in the soles of her feet. As she surged up the tree, her pace steady even as her body fought for breath, all that she was conscious of was the tree beneath her feet, the feel of her chakra, and the rival beside her. One thought dominated her mind, and it was towards this goal that she bent her will. _'I will not lose to Sasuke!'_

As twilight faded into evening and the hours dragged on, Narumi continued. Over and over, forcing her body up the tree. Always Sasuke's presence was beside her, his scent filled with determination and competitive pride. Always she refused to fall behind, matching him step for step. Then came a time when she lost her grip, falling from the tree to land upright on the ground. Her body struggled for breath, even as her blue eyes searched out the figure of her rival, as he continued further up the tree, feet striking the trunk with a rhythmic thump.

She glared upwards, even as her eyelids grew heavier yet, and her chest heaved for breath. _'Kuso, kuso! Sasuke is still climbing!' _ When Sasuke lost his grip on the tree, he lashed out and scored the tree with a cry, before springing back and forth between her tree and his to control his descent. When he reached the ground, he skidded a bit across it, throwing up a few rocks as he ground to a stop.

Narumi watched him from the crouch she'd dropped into, then gritted her teeth and shook her head. _'Damn it...no, no! My mind will be disturbed if I focus on Sasuke!' _Shoving thoughts of her rival away, she focused on the reply Saburo-kun had given her when she'd asked for advice. "First, chakra uses your spirit energy, so don't get tense or too eager. Relax and focus on collecting a constant amount of chakra at the bottom of your feet." Narumi closed her eyes and focused on the warmth of her chakra, collecting it into a steady flow in the bottom of her feet. _'All right, this is going well.'_ Carefully keeping her focus on the control of her chakra, she opened her eyes. _'Okay, I can do this!'_ As she started forward, Sasuke's voice suddenly startled her. "Oi! Narumi." Surprised, she stumbled, missed a step, lost her hold on the chakra, and went heavily to her hands and knees.

Anger flared in her, and she twisted to glare irately at the boy over her shoulder. "Damn it, Sasuke-teme! Don't bother me when I'm concentrating!" Turning, she sat, leaning forward on her hands to glare at him. Sasuke blinked and looked uncomfortable. "Um, well..." Narumi eyed him suspiciously, sitting back to cross her arms. "What?" She squinted at him, uncertain of where this was going. _'It's rare for this guy to come talk to me.'_ Sasuke looked away from her, a light blush of embarrassment tinging his cheeks.

With a great effort, he twisted his face back to face her, and Narumi was confused to see that now he was not only blushing, but one of his eyebrows was twitching madly, and it seemed like it was difficult for him to speak. "You asked Saburo for tips before, right?" Looking away, and focusing on anything but the kunoichi in front of him, he muttered the rest of his question. "What did he tell you?"

Narumi's eyes shot wide open, and she stared at him blankly. For a moment she wonder wildly if someone might have stolen her teammate and replaced him with some sort of Sasuke look-alike. Then a wide, foxy grin spread across her face. After a minute, she wiped the look away, replacing it with a carefully smooth expression as she answered in a lazy drawl. "I won't tell."

Sasuke's head shot around, eyes wide, brows snapping together as he glared incredulously at her, eyebrow still twitching madly. He glared down at her, and she stared placidly back up at him. As their gazes locked, the competition kicked up to a whole new level.

Narumi shoveled down her rice as fast as she could. Sasuke sat opposite her, doing his best to equal her speed. Tazuna was speaking but the two of them were too busy glaring at one another to really register anything he said. Saburo, who was sitting between the two of them at the end of the table was staring back and forth between them with wide eyed disgust, obviously unable to comprehend what was going on.

Narumi shot up out of her seat suddenly, holding out a bowl and declaring in a hurried voice "Seconds, please!" She found she was speaking in chorus with Sasuke, and glared across the table to find that he'd taken the same action at the same moment. For a moment they locked gazes, growling at each other, and Narumi could have sworn lightning arced between them with a dangerous zap. Then her stomach suddenly rebelled, and she had to return to her seat, bending over in an effort not to retch. Her only comfort was that Sasuke was in an identical situation.

Saburo shot to his feet, glaring back and forth between them indignantly. "Oi! If you're gonna make yourself sick, don't eat!" Sasuke glared over the table at Narumi, though his words were directed at Saburo. "No, I'll eat." Narumi grinned as best she could, though her stare was still locked with the Uchiha's. "Me too. I've gotta eat up while I can and get stronger!" On Narumi's other side, Kakashi-sensei crossed his arms and nodded sagely in agreement. "Mm. But making yourself sick isn't good."

Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter, came around to take the plates, and replaced them with cups of tea for everyone, including Inari, while she went to wash the dishes. While she was busy at the sink, Saburo finished his tea, and wandered over to a picture hanging on the wall. Narumi glanced over at it, curious as to what had caught her teammates attention. It depicted Tazuna and Tsunami crouching happily on either side of a laughing Inari. Someones hand was in the boys hair, ruffling it affectionately, and their legs could be seen from where they were standing behind Tsunami. But the top left quarter of the picture where that person should be was torn off.

Saburo cocked his head, examining it for a moment, before speaking tentatively. "Ano...why are you hanging a torn photograph?" Turning, he glanced over his shoulder towards the table where everyone but Tsunami was still sitting. "Inari-kun was watching it all through dinner. It looks like someone intentionally tore out the fourth person in the picture."

Narumi tensed as the scents in the kitchen suddenly thickened. Inari's filled with pain and anger. Tsunami's and Tazuna's also held pain, but were mixed with concern and alarm. Narumi glanced over at Kakashi-sensei, who had turned to focus on Tsunami. When the woman spoke, Narumi was surprised at how calm her voice was, especially given the fact that the whole family's scent was screaming agitation. "It's my husband." Tazuna leaned forward, eyes distant, and voice sad. "He was the man known as the hero of this town."

Inari silently climbed down from his seat, and started walking towards the door. Tsunami turned around, and while her voice stayed mostly even, her expression was distressed. "Inari, where are you going?" The boy left without answering, closing the door firmly behind him. Tsunami followed after him, pausing at the door to glare over her shoulder at Tazuna, her tone scolding. "Father, I told you not to talk about him in front of Inari!" With that she swept from the room, and was gone.

Narumi stared after the two of them, confused by their sudden exit. Saburo was a kind person by nature, so she wasn't surprised when he sounded repentant and concerned. "What's wrong with Inari-kun?" Kakashi-sensei spoke up, addressing Tazuna, and by default making him the center of attention for Narumi and her team. "It seems there's a reason behind this." Tazuna looked down, and when he spoke, his voice was tired.

"Inari and his father were not blood related, but they were still as close as any true father and son. Inari used to laugh a lot back then. But...things changed. All because of that incident." Kakashi's voice was questioning when he spoke. "Incident?" Tazuna wiped tears from his eyes and nodded. "Yes. You see, Kaiza, Inari's father, was the hero of this island. He was a fisherman who came to this island seeking his dream. Inari became very attached to Kaiza. He followed him around everywhere, and Kaiza quickly became part of our family."

"Kaiza was also a guy that we needed in this town. He was our courage. Once, when the village was about to be flooded, Kaiza took a rope and dived into the current. He swam out to the gate of the dam, fastened the rope to it, and came back to help us pull it closed and keep the village from being destroyed. After that, the people here started calling Kaiza a hero, and Inari was incredibly proud of him."Narumi smiled, resting her head on her arms. She liked this story, and Kaiza sounded like he'd be a great hero. Maybe not on par with the Hokages, but the kages were special.

Tazuna's voice roughened a bit as he continued. "But then Gatou came. And one night, Kaiza was taken away by his goons. The next morning, we were called to a large area near the center of town that Gatou had fenced off. The whole town came. And we found Kaiza. He was bound to a post, with Gatou and his goons around him. He had been badly beaten, and both his arms were broken. Gatou accused him of disrupting the order of the country, and had him...executed. Inari was there. Kaiza...Kaiza was smiling at him 'till the end." Tazuna sighed. "Inari changed ever since that time. Tsunami and the people of the village as well."

Narumi glared at nothing, remembering Inari's disparaging comments about heroes. The way he'd said they were all going to die. The way she'd heard him crying in his room when she'd followed him up there after he'd predicted their deaths. Inari didn't believe in heroes. But that was wrong. Konohagakure was full of heroes. Not just the Hokages, but all the shinobi whose names were carved on the memorial stone, and many more besides. Narumi had grown up in a village of heroes, and something deep within her bridled at the thought of someone destroying a hero to such a degree that he wasn't even remembered respectfully.

In one motion, she stood up, and shoved away from the table, snagging her jacket from where she'd draped it across the back of the chair. She'd been sitting still for so long that her legs didn't obey her right away, and got tangled. A sudden wave of tiredness hit her at the same time as she stumbled, and sent her pitching to the floor on her side. The grunt she let out as she struck the floor turned the attention of the others towards her.

Saburo frowned a little, and leaned towards her. "What are you doing, Narumi?" She heard Kakashi-sensei's voice as she moved to get to her feet. "If you're going to train, don't. You've already used too much chakra today. If you go much further, you could die." Narumi growled, and shover herself to her feet, slinging her jacket back on over her black t-shirt. "I'm going to prove it to him."

Tazuna frowned at her, making a questioning voice deep in his throat. Saburo eyed her in concern, voice slightly disbelieving. "Prove what?" Narumi turned towards the door, eyes determined. "That there are heroes in this world!" Her trademark fierce grin spread across her face as she headed outside. "I'm definitely going to prove it to him!" Shoving open the door, she stepped out into the cool of the night, and let the door fall closed behind her, cutting off the warm yellow light, and savory smells of the kitchen. Taking a deep breath, she strode back out towards the forest. She had training to do.

Narumi frowned and shifted with a slight mewl of protest. Her entire body ached, and she wanted nothing more than to sleep a bit longer. She had pushed herself well beyond her limits last night, until she'd finally collapsed onto the ground, and fallen asleep. At least, she assumed she'd fallen asleep. Because the last thing she remembered was looking up into a vast darkness, filled with countless glittering stars, and now the soft, clear light of morning was beating against her eyelids, and a hand was softly shaking her shoulder.

A gentle, slightly husky voice suddenly murmured above her. "You'll catch cold if you sleep here. Come on, wake up." With a slight groan, Narumi blinked her eyes open, squinting up at the figure leaning over her. Long dark hair draped smoothly over shoulders, and around a pale, slightly rounded face. Large, dark eyes were set in the face beneath fine straight brows, and gazed softly down at her. The person wore a tasteful pink sleeveless kimono, slightly too short for them, secured with a wide brown obi. There was also a dark choker wrapped around their throat.

Narumi blinked admiringly up at them, somewhat dazed. _'What a beautiful person.'_ As the person above her moved back, she sat up, and scrubbed blearily at one eye with a fist. Then she dropped her hand, and squinted sleepily at the person kneeling next to her. "Who're you s'possed to be?" Narumi had been puzzling over wether the person was a boy or a flat-chested girl for a moment, but she decided that it must be a girl. The older girl closed her eyes and tilted her head, an affectionate, amused smile curling her lips.

Narumi stared dumbstruck for a moment, and then blushed. She suddenly felt grubby, foolish, and childish. She looked down for a minute, then quickly yanked the tie from what was left of her braid and shook her hair out, doing her best to comb through it with her fingers. Looking back up, she continued, her words slightly rushed. "Oh! I mean...uh...hello, onee-chan. Where did you come from? What are you doing out here in the woods?"

The dark eyes slid open again, and fixed on Narumi. The older girl reached out one hand, and tucked a stray lock of hair back behind Narumi's ear. "I'm gathering herbs." Narumi blinked at her. "Herbs?" The girl smiled again and nodded. "Yes, that's right little sister. They're for treating illnesses and healing wounds." Narumi cocked her head, impressed. This girl must be a civilian healer of some kind. When she spoke, her voice was admiring. "Wow, that's incredible. Can I help?" Then her face fell and she looked back at the ground in front of her. "I don't know much about herbs though..." Kunoichi were supposed to know all about herbs and flowers and such, but Narumi had done her best to ditch as many of those lessons as possible when she was in the academy, having no patience for such pursuits.

The older girl seemed surprised, but she shook her head easily. "That's no problem, I'd be very grateful to have your help." Turning, she reached into the basket at her side, and pulled out a sprig of greenery. "They look like this, and grow abundantly in this area. I would be glad to have your help in harvesting them." Narumi beamed up at her, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. "Great! I can do that." Jumping to her feet, she followed the older girl through the trees to a patch of the stuff.

Her companion knelt down, placing the basket at her side, and leaned down. "Pick them like this." She grasped the base of the stem gently in two fingers, and broke it off cleanly before placing it in the basket. Narumi watched her intently for a minute, and then studied the tiny plants at her feet. Shrugging out of her jacket, she tied the sleeves around her waist, and hunkered down across from her companion, and nodded her head vigorously. She wasn't as graceful as the other girl, but she managed alright.

After they'd filled the basket, Narumi sat down cross-legged in front of the other girl, and squinted across at her. "You sure do start work early, huh, onee-chan?" The other girl looked thoughtful for a moment. "I like it early. It's calm. But I didn't expect to find anyone sleeping out here in the woods." Narumi grinned widely, giggled, and leaned forward a bit, bracing her hands on her ankles as a lock of hair slid forward over her shoulder. "I'm training!" The other girl blinked at her in bemusement. When she spoke again, her husky voice was tentative. "So are you a ninja? I noticed that you're wearing a hitae-ate." As she spoke, the dark haired girl reached out and brushed her fingers softly over the grooves of the Konohagakure symbol, brushing through the wild golden bangs that fell across it as she did so.

Narumi flushed with pride. "You noticed it? Yeah, only shinobi can wear these!" The other girl pulled her hand back, watching the blonde with a calm, serious expression. "Oh really? I see, that's very impressive." Narumi rubbed the back of her head again, grinning widely in embarrassed pleasure at the praise from such a beautiful and capable older girl. Suddenly the other looked away with a serious expression. "But...doesn't that mean you're training for something dangerous?"

Narumi was a bit surprised at her tone. She sounded almost...worried. As far as Narumi could remember, no one but Ikuye-sensei had ever worried about her before. A sudden rush of warmth spread through her, and she felt a little giddy. Desperately striving to keep her face from turning any redder, the kunoichi grinned sheepishly, her voice cheerful. "Nah, I'm just developing my skills so I can get stronger." The other girl cocked her head at her, furrowing her brows slightly. "But you seem very strong now, isn't that enough?" Narumi's eyes shot wide open in surprise. "Of course not! I need to get much, much stronger, so I've got to keep training!"

The dark haired girl narrowed her eyes thoughtfully. "How so? Why is it so important?" Narumi raised a fist, clenching it tightly as she grinned excitedly. "So I can become the greatest shinobi in the whole village! Then everyone will have to acknowledge me! Plus, there's this kid that I have to prove something to!" The other girls eyes lit up, and she leaned forward slightly, her hands resting together on her knees. "So are you doing it for a certain person? Or are you doing all this training for yourself?" Narumi squinted at her, face scrunching in confusion. "Huh?" The other girl lifted a hand to her face, and laughed quietly. Narumi yelped indignantly, waving her arms. "Hey, what are you laughing about, onee-chan? What's so funny?" The other girl dropped her hand, smiling back at her with gentle benevolence. "Is there...someone who's precious to you? A girl as cute as you must have someone special."

Narumi blinked and reared back, blushing a bright red and stuttering. "Someone who...wha...what d'ya mean precious...?" The other girl looked very grave for a moment. "You see, when a person has something precious that they wish to protect, that is when they become truly strong." Narumi blinked at her uncertainly, then looked down. The image that jumped into her head then was Kakashi-sensei swearing to protect her and her teammates when he was facing Zabuza. She remembered how she had relaxed, how she'd felt the steady strength of her teachers presence washing over her. In fact, now that she thought of it, old man hokage had always said that it was the Will of Fire, the strong will to protect the village, that made Konohagakure strong. She thought of the time Mizuki had hurt Ikuye-sensei, and she had suddenly found that she was more than capable of beating the stuffing out of the arrogant traitor. Looking back up, she smiled quietly. "Yeah, I hear ya onee-chan." The other girl smiled softly back, and then stood, picking up her basket. "You will get strong. Very strong." Narumi grinned up at the other girl as she turned to leave. "Goodbye. We'll meet again, one day."

Narumi watched the other girl walking away with an admiring gaze. She sure was smart about these things, considering she was a civilian and all. Just as she was at the other side of the clearing, the other girl stopped. "Oh. By the way, I'm a boy." Narumi jumped backwards, startled, and threw up an arm in front of her. Her mouth fell open, and her face flushed an almost painful red, her eyes wide and staring after the vanishing form of the...teenage guy. She stuttered for a minute, mouth working fruitlessly, face frozen. When her strangled voice finally returned she squeaked out the first thing that popped into her head. "He...he called me cute..."

Suddenly, a hand slapped the top of her head lightly. Startled, she yelped and lurched forward. Shaking her head, Narumi leaned back, and glared up into Sasuke's face. He had just walked up from behind her, and was staring after the older boys retreating figure. After a minute, he turned to face her, arms crossed and eyes cool. "Hey dobe, did you just forget about breakfast? And why are you half dressed? And who the heck was that?" She blinked, flushed lightly again, and then chuckled up at her teammate, who narrowed his eyes, and twisted away from her, growling. Springing up, she tossed her hair over her shoulder and bolted away from him to the training clearing, leaving her teammate and his questions in the dust. She had a tree to climb.

It was about an hour and a half later when Narumi sprawled herself exhaustedly across one of the higher limbs of her tree, laying bonelessly along it like a cat. She'd re-braided her hair, and replaced her jacket as usual. Below her, Kakashi-sensei and Saburo-kun had just walked into veiw, calling for her. Saburo-kun was looking around the clearing muttering under his breath. Narumi watched them for a minute, and was both surprised and pleased when she caught an undertone of concern beneath the irritation in Saburo's scent. Tightening her grip on the kunai dangling loosely in her hand, she sent the blade hurtling down to bury itself in the ground at Saburo's feet. Both Kakashi-sensei and Saburo turned their faces upwards, and she grinned breathlessly down at them. Saburo stared up at her in surprise, and Kakashi eyed her quietly.

"What do you think, high enough for you guys? I mean it's a long way down." Bracing a hand against the branch beneath her stomach, she levered herself up and climbed to her feet. As she straightened, one of her feet slipped, and for a minute she felt the sickening sensation of falling sideways. Beneath her Kakashi-sensei cursed, and Saburo cried out in horror. Ignoring them, she quickly re-focused her chakra into the soles of her feet. At the exact same moment she latched back onto the side of the branch, a hand wrapped around her wrist. She found herself parallel to the ground, staring down at it with her braid falling forward across her shoulder, one arm stretched back behind her with her wrist caught in a vice grip. Glancing back over her shoulder, she saw Sasuke standing on the branch, his hand wrapped tightly around her wrist. His eyes were wide, and he was staring at her as opposed to his usual glare. His scent was returning swiftly to its normal, pride-laced state, but she could smell the fading traces of anxiety. "Dobe." Saburo sighed and then glared up at her, his scent abnormally similar to Sasuke's, and began scolding furiously. "Be more careful, you idiot!" Kakashi smiled cheerfully up at them, and shook his head slightly. From him, Narumi could smell only amusement. She grinned slightly as Sasuke pulled her back up onto her branch, and wondered what her teammates would think if they knew just how much she could tell about them from their scents alone. Sasuke, at the very least, would probably have a fit. For now, she thought it would stay her little secret.

Late that night, after the moon had already risen high into the sky, Narumi found herself clinging tightly to the very top of her tree. She was breathing hard, and sweating. She'd long since stripped her jacket back off for the sake of coolness, and it swayed gently around her waist. She'd also let her hair out, and wrapped the tie around her wrist, and the loose hair alternately stuck to her sweaty neck and blew out around her in the cool breeze, confined only by her hitae-ate. Sasuke was perched on the top of the tree next to her, just as covered in sweat and scrapes. He was standing with his arms crossed, and a tiny smirk playing across his face. They'd finally mastered the tree climbing exercise. Narumi heaved for breath, grinning brightly in spite of her aching muscles and stinging scrapes. When Sasuke spoke, his words were friendly. "Let's go back." It was an acknowledgement that they were both done here. Narumi's grin widened, and she nodded once. "Right."

As they both descended the trees, Narumi sucked in a deep breath. When she reached the ground, she had to take a minute to steady herself, her muscles trembling with exhaustion. As they made their way back to Tazuna's house, she stumbled a few different times, blinking her eyes hard. She was so tired, and so sleepy that she was nearly passing out on her feet. They were almost there when she stumbled again. This time, Sasuke caught her wrist, and pulled her arm over his shoulders, his other arm wrapping supportively around her waist. She blinked at him, and he rolled his eyes. "Dobe. You pushed yourself too hard. Let me help." She hesitated a minute, and then grinned, relaxing a bit and transferring some of her weight to him. "Thanks, teme."

When they finally reached the house, she pushed the door open with her free hand. As they slowly entered the house together, she felt the others attention turn to them. Kakashi-sensei, Saburo-kun, Inari, and Tazuna were seated around the table, and Tsunami was standing at the counter. The scents of food wafting through the room told Narumi that it was already time for dinner. Tazuna's rough voice rang out. "What have you been up to? The both of you look like you've been mauled." Narumi lifted her head, squinting one eye closed, and attempting to keep the other open as it threatened to slide closed. "We both made it. All the way to the top." Sasuke looked somewhat embarrassed, and she heard him mutter under his breath. "Training until she's too exhausted to move, what a dobe." She ignored him though. Kakashi-sensei looked them both over with satisfaction in his eye. "Alright, now we move on. Starting tomorrow, the two of you will help guard Tazuna at the bridge." Narumi brightened, excited at the prospect of helping with the mission again. "Right!"

Sasuke helped her over to her seat beside Kakashi, and set her down in it. Despite his muttered jab of "Dobe." as he released her, he was careful to be gentle as he settled her. She waved a hand tiredly at him, and then slumped forward over her plate of food, fighting to stay awake. Sasuke shook his head, and limped around the table to his own seat across from her, sitting down gingerly. Narumi blinked at her food, and only the insistent growl of her stomach kept her shoveling food slowly into her mouth. Frequently she had to reach up and shove her hair out of her face, but she had no energy to spare on re-braiding it.

After dinner had been eaten, Tsunami-san took away the dirty plates, and Narumi slumped forward, resting her head on her arms with a sigh of relief. Tazuna sat back off to her right with a content sigh. "Just a few more days and the bridge will be finished. I have you four to thank for that." Tsunami sighed, and shook her head at them. "Narumi-chan, Father, please don't overdo it, alright?" Tazuna waved her away, and Narumi turned her head a bit to see him staring at Kakashi-sensei. "I've been meaning to ask you this for a while. Why did you stay and protect me, even after I lied to you about the mission?"

Kakashi-sensei folded his hands in front of him, voice serious. "Those who stray from the path of justice have no courage, but under the wing of a strong leader, cowardice cannot survive." Tazuna blinked at him, obviously confused. "Huh?" Kakashi shifted to look at him. "That was a quote from the Shodai Hokage." Before either of the two adults could reply, Inari suddenly erupted, slamming his small hands down on the table, and yelling across the table at Narumi.

She was vaguely aware of Sasuke tensing, and Saburo moving as if to stand while the boy shouted. "Why do you even bother! No matter how hard you train, you're still no match for Gatou's men! You're still going to end up dead!" Narumi carefully grabbed hold of her turbulent emotions, and forced them down, not moving from her relaxed position to look at the boy. "Whatever kid. I'm not like you." The screamed reply was instant and hysterical. "I'd hate to be like you! You don't know anything! Just looking at you makes me sick! I'm different from you, who's always clowning around and acting so cheerful! You don't know what it's like to really suffer!"

Narumi snapped. Enough was enough. She was Jinchuriki! She might not have known it until recently, but for Jinchuriki, that didn't mean a thing. She had lived her whole life rejected, scorned, and isolated. The only emotion that had ever been freely given to her was hatred. It was only recently that that had begun to change. She still had to fight just to make people acknowledge her existence. This kid needed to get the hell over himself, and she intended to teach him a lesson.

"So it's okay for you to pose as the star of your own personal tragedy and cry all day?" Inari shrunk back with an indignant sounding sniffle. She lifted her head, baring her teeth in a feral snarl, eyes snapping with anger. "Just keep right on crying forever, you little sissy! You're nothin' but a coward!" The boy locked gazes with her, streams of tears running down his flushed face, his lower lip trembling furiously. Narumi looked away from him, and stood, heading upstairs to bed. Behind her Saburo stood up, shoving his chair back. "Narumi, you went too far!" She shrugged her shoulders, and snorted, not looking back at the others as she started to climb the steps. She was tired, and she wanted nothing more than a bath and bed.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** _Hey guys. Hope you liked this chapter! A thousand thanks to everyone who reviewed!_

_I tried doing a view-point switch halfway through, because I was originally thinking of breaking this up into two chapter. But it seemed so short when I looked back over them, that I reunited the parts. It wasn't too confusing, was it? And I've been meaning to ask, my natural inclination is to go for longer chapters, but would you guys prefer shorter ones? Just wondering._

_Anyway, this chapter is where the big changes to the story and characters because of gender are going to start coming up. For example, Haku's place in the story. I wasn't originally sure just how I wanted to play that, just that he had to have a big influence. After all, Haku is hugely important to Naruto's growth in the actual anime and manga, so obviously he would have an equally big impact on Narumi. However, since the only person to have given me multiple reviews is a fan of naru/haku, I decided to alter the impact a bit more than I'd planned. Haku still helps Narumi realize that what she really wants is to protect her precious people. But the interaction is a bit more tender, and Haku is a bit attracted to her. Being a gentle and honest person, he can't help but express a bit of that. Narumi's too young to really reciprocate, but once she knows he's a boy, she becomes very aware of it. Haku is definitely the first boy to have treated Narumi in this fashion, so he'll most likely have a special place in her heart for the rest of her life. _

_I'm afraid I'm still not quite ready to write any romance into this. Narumi is only twelve, and I just can't see her developing serious romantic feelings so young. Also I'd prefer her to be a strong kunoichi in her own right before she really falls in love, for her own sake, and so the guy will know exactly what and who he's getting. So, to Mirajane Ryuu-Hitsugaya, who has so kindly given me lovely reviews, this is my nod to your first request. I'm terribly sorry I can't actually fulfill the request, but I promise to let you know as soon as I have a solid pairing in mind, and I will write a bit of romance into the story eventually. I hope that the relationship between Haku and Narumi will be at least somewhat satisfying._


	6. Battle on the Bridge

Sasuke stood quietly outside the house with Saburo and Tazuna while Kakashi-sensei stood in the doorway speaking to Tsunami-san. "...well then, please take care of Narumi." Turning, he joined them outside and closed the door behind them. Saburo stretched and eyed Kakashi-sensei curiously. "Are you sure she's gonna be okay? I mean, she wouldn't wake up at all, no matter what I did." Kakashi-sensei nodded once. "It'll be fine. She's pushed her body to the very limit. I don't think she'll be able to move today." Tazuna shrugged on his work pack and turned to head out. "Ok then, let's go!"

Sasuke huffed, and turned to follow the old man out to his bridge. He wasn't surprised Narumi was still out of it. The dobe had trained far beyond what she should have yesterday. He was surprised that she hadn't collapsed beforehand. The bridge wasn't far away, and it didn't take too long for them to get there. They were walking out to the end of the bridge where the construction was going on when they found the workers. They were all dead, sprawled out with their tools still loosely grasped in their hands, their blood quickly cooling beneath them.

Tazuna cried out in horror, and started backwards. "Wha-what is this!" Sasuke tensed, senses going into a hyper alert state. The light morning mist around them suddenly thickened, turning the world into a swirling field of white. Kakashi-sensei called out a sharp warning. "Sasuke! Saburo! Let's go!" Sasuke instantly turned so that his back was to Saburo and Kakashi, facing outwards as his eyes searched for the enemy.

As he scanned for the enemy, he drew a kunai from his holster, it's handle familiar and comforting in his grip. Behind him he could hear a slight clinking as Saburo went for his own holster, and he could see Kakashi reaching silently for his weapon pouch out of the corner of his eye. Tazuna seemed frozen with terror, and was sweating bullets, and Sasuke could not sense even a trace of the enemy who had slaughtered the workers. But the mist told him that Zabuza and his mysterious accomplice were back.

Behind Sasuke, Saburo's voice sounded, steely and on edge. "Kakashi-sensei, this is his Kirigakure no Jutsu, right?" Sasuke shivered, a light trembling racing through his body. He scowled, grasping his kunai tighter, waiting. He would not hesitate, and he would not fail. Not this time. Zabuza's gravelly voice suddenly sounded through the mist. "I see you're still with the brats, Hatake...oh look at that. The dark haired one's shaking again. Poor kid." His voice sounded cruelly amused as it crooned mockingly at him.

Sasuke suddenly found that he and his team were surrounded by crouched figures with giant swords slung over their shoulders. His eyes narrowed, and he smirked at the figure in front of him. "I'm not shaking out of fear!" The man in front of him scoffed, obviously not viewing him as a threat. Behind him, Kakashi-sensei spoke, and Sasuke could hear the smile in his voice. "Go for it, Sasuke-kun." With a quick spike of chakra, Sasuke darted around the group, slashing at the surrounding enemy, and dispersing the mizu bunshin in an instant before whirling easily back into his spot. "You can't fool my eyes!"

From a short distance away, Zabuza's voice sounded. "Hmm...he saw through my mizu bunshin. The brat has grown. Looks like you've got competition, Haku." A much lighter voice that Sasuke associated instantly with the oinin imposter answered calmly. "Yes it does." Sasuke took a half step forward, Saburo and Kakashi-sensei moving to stand behind him as Tazuna dropped back. Kakashi-sensei's voice was laid back, and relaxed. "It seems my thinking was right on the mark. That masked one, he's obviously Zabuza's comrade, standing right next to him and all." Saburo growled, and thrust a finger at the older boy accusingly. "He should stop hiding under that mask and face us!"

Sasuke dropped his head a bit and glared up at the two enemies in front of them. Something seemed too familiar about the masked boy for his comfort. "I'll fight him. Tricking us with that stupid act...I hate bastards like that!" Saburo brightened and his voice was impressed. "Yeah! Go Sasuke!" Haku tilted his head, the blank mask turned in Sasuke's direction. "An impressive young man. Even though the mizu bunshin only have a tenth of your strength Zabuza-san..." Zabuza sounded no less confident than before. "But we have gained the first advantage. Go!" Haku vanished in a swirl of water with a clipped acknowledgment. "Yes."

The next thing Sasuke knew, Haku was advancing towards him in a minature tornado, his body whirling at incredible speed as he crossed the bridge. Gritting his teeth, Sasuke smirked, and raised his kunai, eyes fixed on his opponent. The masked boy suddenly lashed out with a senbon, arm flying towards him. Sasuke slid one foot back, changing his stance and dodging out of the way as Haku swung his weapon through the space he'd just occupied. With a wrench of his body, the Uchiha turned to strike at the masked boy. Haku matched his actions, and his senbon met Sasuke's kunai solidly, clashing in a screech of metal against metal. As Sasuke strained against the other boy, he heard Kakashi off to the side of him. "Saburo! Take up a position in front of Tazuna-san and don't leave my side. We'll let Sasuke handle him." Saburo's voice was sharp and nervous. "Yeah!"

Sasuke locked his eyes on the blank mask in front of him, sensing that he had the older boys complete attention. The two of them spun around and around each other, their movements small but powerful as the struck again and again, each seeking an opening, and blocking all of the others strikes. After a moment they locked weapons again, arms straining as they pushed against each other. The other boy's voice was cool and firm. "I don't want to have to kill you. But you won't stand down, will you?" Sasuke smirked at him. Stand down? After all the training he'd done? The dobe would never let him live it down. Besides, he had the Uchiha pride to uphold. "Don't be foolish." Haku's voice went grave. "I see...but you won't be able to keep up with my speed the next time. Plus, I've already gained two advantages." Sasuke's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Two advantages?"

Haku lifted one hand into a basic sign in front of his mask. "The first is the water on the ground. The second is that I have occupied one of your arms. You will now only be able to run from my attacks." Suddenly, his free hand flashed through a series of one handed seals so fast that it blurred. Sasuke's eyes widened, and he bared his teeth in agitation. _'What? One handed seals?' _The next thing he knew, the water lying on the bridge around him surged up and reformed into a cloud of senbon made of ice, all hovering around them, ready to strike.

Sasuke felt adrenaline surge into his veins. He saw Saburo's brows snap down, and heard his teammate call his name in alarm, though he didn't move from his spot. Sasuke ignored him, lifting his free hand into a sign, letting his eyes slide closed, though his attention remained on his enemy. _'Remember the training. Concentrate my chakra into my legs.'_ As the water around him formed into needles and surged forward, Haku disengaged and flew backwards.

Sasuke, however, had already used his chakra to enhance his legs and spring high into the air. As he began to reach the apex of his leap, he pulled shuriken from his holster and launched them at Haku, keeping his opponent dodging backwards across the bridge. While Haku was busy dodging, he returned to the ground, and launched himself into a run, appearing behind the older boy as he rose from his crouch, smirking triumphantly as he repeated the nuke-nin's words back to him. "From now on, you will only be able to run from my attacks."

With a savage twist of his body, he struck at Haku with his Kunai. Haku threw himself to the side, turning to meet the blade of the kunai with his senbon. Sasuke had been counting on that reaction, and with a flick of his wrist, he sent the kunai flying towards the mask. Haku managed to duck underneath it, the long locks of hair that framed his face fluttering as he dropped beneath the weapon. As he did, Sasuke cursed silently, his eyes narrowing as he kicked out at the mask that was now within his range.

The attacks were made in such quick succession that Haku was unable to dodge the kick, and Sasuke felt a savage satisfaction as his foot connected solidly with the infuriating mask. Haku's head snapped backwards painfully as his body flew backwards towards Zabuza. With a grunt, the teenager wrenched his body into a backwards flip, and managed to land in a crouch, skidding backwards a bit as he did.

Sasuke smirked, turning his body a bit, eyes not leaving his enemy. "Looks like I have the advantage in speed." Kakashi-sensei's voice rang out from behind him. On the surface of things, he sounded as apathetic as ever, but Sasuke could hear a tinge of pride in his voice. "I can't have you underestimating my team by calling them brats. Sasuke is the number one rookie of Konohagakure. Saburo is the brightest in the village. And the other one is the number one hyper-active knuckle headed kunoichi in the village."

Sasuke's smirk grew a touch. His teammates might get on his nerves, but he was glad that they weren't being looked down on. Then he twitched as Zabuza chuckled, apparently amused. "Haku, do you realize? At this rate we'll be driven back." Haku suddenly straightened, water rising and twisting around him. "You're right. We can't have that." Sasuke frowned, ducking his head slightly, as a sudden chill washed over him. He eyed the other boy apprehensively, sinking a little deeper into his stance.

Haku folded his hands into a strange sign, and suddenly the water around Sasuke rose again, twisting around him and Haku. Sasuke started, and found himself surrounded in a cage of ice mirrors that surrounded him on all sides, and arced into a complete dome above his head. Haku's voice was very cold when he spoke. "Makyo Hyousho." Sasuke looked around wildly, and then Haku vanished. Each of the mirrors now reflected Haku. He was surrounded. Sasuke's eyes widened in alarm.

Outside the mirrors, he heard Kakashi-sensei curse violently. But Sasuke's attention was focused solely, frantically, on the mirrors surrounding him. Haku's voice echoed around him in a multi-voice chorus, coming from every mirror. "Well then, let's begin. I'll show you my true speed." Sasuke's eyes flashed from mirror to mirror, alarm ringing through his mind, his muscles tensing as he looked around. "What...what are these mirrors?"

A sharp pain suddenly sprang up in Sasuke's shoulder as a senbon sliced through his sleeve. A tiny dribble of blood dripped down his arm, and he flinched slightly at the sudden sting. Before he could wonder what had happened, he found himself caught up in a hurricane of senbon that flew from all directions. They sliced across his skin, tearing through his clothes and flesh. Sasuke threw up his arms to shield his face, a pained cry ripping from his throat. Outside the mirrors, he heard Kakashi-sensei call out his name in alarm. A detached part of his mind noted that Zabuza would keep sensei occupied. Saburo also had Tazuna to look after. Even if he were to abandon his post, he probably wouldn't be of much use in this situation. There would be no help coming. Gritting his teeth, he did his best to muffle another scream as his kunai was knocked from his hand.

As Sasuke dropped to his knees, he heard Saburo cry out. Cracking one eye open, he peered out between the mirrors, and saw the other boy let a kunai fly towards the mirrors. There was a sudden lull in the constant barrage of gleaming needles and pain. As he watched, one of the Hakus leaned out of his mirror, returning to the three-dimensional world as he caught the kunai. His opponent appeared to examine the weapon for a moment, and then the mask turned to meet Sasuke's gaze. Sasuke glared at him as best he could, before his body slid to the ground. For an instant, he was caught between anger at his own weakness, and intense relief that he could not feel needles tearing through his skin at the moment.

Gritting his teeth, he levered himself up a bit onto his arms, desperate to keep his eyes on his opponent. Sasuke spared a moment to thank the kami that Saburo had thought to attempt a ranged bad it hadn't worked. Haku just sat there for a moment. Then he flipped the kunai in his hand, obviously intending to use it on Sasuke. Then, to Sasuke's surprise, a shuriken suddenly flew at Haku's head in a whoosh of air. Haku didn't notice until it was too late to dodge. But the direction was all wrong for either Saburo or Kakashi-sensei...

Haku's head snapped back and to the side as the shuriken caught him across the mask, scarring the porcelain across the face between the eyes. His body jerked violently in the same direction as his head as he fell out of the mirror, torn from his perch as the force of the kunai whipped him around. As he left the mirror, the other Hakus also vanished. Sasuke turned his dazed eyes in the direction the shuriken had come from, closing one eye against the blood dripping down his face. As it dawned on him who must have attacked Haku while he was vulnerable, a smile curled across his face. His voice was strained as he mumbled under his breath. "That idiot...show off..." Narumi appeared out of the mist, arms crossed, eyes blazing, and a feral grin stretched across her face. "Uzumaki Narumi has officially arrived!"

Sasuke's eyes widened in alarm as Zabuza launched a volley of shuriken at his blonde teammate. Haku swiftly joined in with a rain of senbon. Narumi whipped out a kunai, whipping it up as she tracked the oncoming weapons. And then something very strange happened. The senbon Haku had thrown struck Zabuza's shuriken, knocking them away. Sasuke started, pushing himself to his knees in shock. It was almost as if Haku were...protecting Narumi. Narumi herself was staring in wide-eyed confusion at the masked boy.

From his current position in the cage of ice mirrors, Sasuke could only see the side of Haku's mask, and a glimpse of Zabuza's back, but Zabuza's voice did not sound pleased. "Haku, what is this?" The masked boy dropped his face a bit, but his voice was even when he answered. "Zabuza-san...these kids...please let me fight them my way." There was a moments silence, and then Zabuza replied in tone that was both resigned and amused. "So you don't want me to interfere, Haku? You're soft as always."

Sasuke had caught his breath during the lull, and rose carefully into a crouch, gritting his teeth as he held up an arm to examine the cuts covering his arm. _'Soft? Zabuza's right. He's attacking with senbon, which are precision weapons, but he's not even attempting to aim them at high damage areas. Is he toying with me?' _Dropping his arm, he took a quick look around at his surroundings. _'But what's this jutsu? Having clones in the mirrors all throwing senbon... No, it's too fast for that. I can't even see where they're coming from. And if it's just a bunshin jutsu, then why incorporate the mirrors? No, these mirrors serve some sort of purpose in this attack.'_ Gritting his teeth, Sasuke glared between the mirrors at Haku, who had stood and half turned to keep both Sasuke and Narumi in his view.

The masked ninja was speaking to Narumi, who had loudly scolded him for his deception. "I'm sorry, but even your teacher would tell you that it is the duty of a shinobi to deceive. It is nothing personal." Sasuke's brows drew together, and he scowled. _'You don't have time to chit-chat like that!' _Drawing a kunai from his holster, he flung it at his opponent as swiftly as he could. Haku evaded it by simply leaning backwards a bit. He didn't even turn to look at Sasuke. The Uchiha heir choked, eyes widening slightly. Narumi started, and turned to look at him. Sasuke ignored her gaze as the nuke-nin addressed him, still without turning. "I didn't forget about you. I would have liked for you to just lie there quietly, but I suppose that is too much to expect."

The masked shinobi paced slowly back towards the mirrors. "Very well, I will finish you off first." Sasuke didn't take his eyes of the advancing enemy, but off to the side of his field of vision, he saw Narumi take a step forward, scowling at the nuke-nin. "O-oi!" Haku stopped for an instant just beyond the surface of his mirror. "Narumi-chan, I'll be with you in just a moment." And then he was absorbed into the ice mirror, and many reflections of him once again hemmed Sasuke in. Sasuke started, body tensing as his head snapped from side to side, desperately trying to determine which image concealed the true opponent.

Another barrage of senbon rained down on him, and he could only hunch his shoulders and cry out in protest as they sliced by him. Outside the mirrors he heard Narumi's voice cry out in alarm. "Sasuke!" When the attack ceased, Sasuke straightened a bit, clamping a hand to one particularly deep slice on his shoulder as he eyed the mirror across from him defiantly, his mind working furiously as he attempted to find a weakness in the jutsu. _'Why can't I even track the trajectory of the weapons? It's like they're coming from everywhere!'_ Grudgingly he admitted to himself that his best bet would be to attack from the inside while Narumi attacked the mirrors from the outside.

Sasuke suddenly started as Narumi darted into the space encircled by the mirrors to crouch at his side. Jerking his head around, he stared at her in incredulous dismay. She had a wide grin spread across her face, and her hand hovered at her holster. "Hey Sasuke-teme! You alright? I came to help you out!" Sasuke choked, and then glared ferociously at her. "Dobe! If you're a kunoichi then use your head! Why, in the name of the kami, did you come inside the mirrors?" Narumi yelped indignantly, frowning at him. "Oi! What the heck, teme? I'm tryin' to help you out!" Shoving down a flood of irrational relief that he was no longer alone in the cage of the mirrors, he set his jaw and growled callously at her. "I don't need anyone's help, least of all yours!"

Before Sasuke could voice any further frustration, or order her to escape, the Hakus each lifted three senbon. Sasuke started in alarm, glancing back and forth between Narumi and the masked boy in the mirrors around them. _'I can't let him resume that senbon attack, especially with Narumi in here. I'll just have to destroy the mirrors.'_ Narumi started up into a fighting stance, frowning at the mirrors. "Bring it on, Ice-boy!" Sasuke ignored her, shoving himself up and folding his hands into the sign for the signature jutsu that his family used. _'If these mirrors are made of ice, then I'll just melt them!'_

Without a second thought, he blew out an enormous ball of fire. As the jutsu roared into life, it left an intense warmth and the taste of ashes on his lips, a string of chakra carried on his breath through his pinched fingers before it blossomed into flame. But when the flames died away, the ice mirrors weren't even damaged. Narumi started and swore. "Kuso! It didn't work at all!" Haku didn't even twitch, his voice calm. "You can't melt this ice with that level of fire." Sasuke glared ferociously. "Shimatta!"

Haku's throwing arm tensed as he moved to strike. Sasuke's eyes widened. And then he was caught once more in a barrage of senbon, droplets of his blood flying as he staggered backwards and fell to one knee. Only this time Narumi was beside him. A handful of cuts of varying depths had laid her tanned skin open, and dribbles of blood trickled from them. But it didn't seem to bother the girl too much. She surged back to her feet, glaring at the mirrors around them as a thin trickle of blood dripped down her face and across her whisker marks. "Where's the real one?"

Each of the Hakus in the mirrors cocked their heads in unison, their stances remaining relaxed. "Trying to follow with your eyes is impossible. You will never be able to catch me." Narumi scowled angrily at the other boy, growling as she brought her hands together in a cross shaped sign that was unique to her favorite jutsu. "Kage bunshin no jutsu!" Sasuke's eyes went to her instantly, flaring with alarm as he realized what she was about to do. "Don't-!"

Before he could complete his sentence, there was a Narumi rushing towards each of the mirrors, fist drawn back as she prepared to attack. "Then I'll just destroy all of the mirrors, and see which one of you is real!" In an instant, before Sasuke's eyes, all the clones dispersed in a blast of the white smoke, and Narumi cried out, blood flying as new cuts opened and she came crashing back down to the ground beside him. The inflection of Haku's voice never wavered as he spoke. "This jutsu uses the mirrors reflection to transport me. From my point of view, you seem to be moving slow motion." Narumi slowly climbed back into a crouch, breathe uneven as she wiped blood out of her eyes.

Sasuke shifted a bit towards Narumi, glaring at the mirrors around them, hissing angrily under his breath. "A Kekkei Genkai!" Narumi glanced over at him, blue eyes uncertain. "You mean...?" Sasuke nodded once. "A blood lineage. A jutsu passed down through your genes, unique to your bloodline. Like the sharingan. They're nearly undefeatable." Narumi dropped her head for a moment, eyes shadowed. Then she growled angrily. "Kuso!" Sasuke's eyes slid over to her in surprise as she spoke. "So what! I can't die here. I have a dream to fulfill!"

Sasuke eyed her for a moment, uncertain as to what to say. Haku considered the girl for a moment, and when he spoke, his voice was troubled. "Becoming a true shinobi is difficult for me. If possible I don't want to have to kill you. Nor do I want to have to kill me. However, if you come at me, I can destroy my heart, and become a true shinobi. So then, let the three of us fight. Me for my dream, and you for yours. I have to protect my precious person. To do that, I can become a shinobi. I can kill you." Sasuke eyed the mask for a moment, and then smirked, confidence bubbling up in his chest. Finally, he was being taken seriously.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that same feral grin spreading across Narumi's face. Saburo's shout suddenly broke the tense atmosphere. "Sasuke! Narumi! Don't you dare lose to this guy!" The corner of Sasuke's mouth twitched a bit higher. It seemed his team was in agreement. Obviously he could not embarrass himself by losing to Haku, Kekkei Genkai or not.

Narumi spat some blood off to the side, and glared ferociously at the mirrors around them. "Just because I messed up the first time doesn't mean I'm going to quit! I'll keep coming at you as many times as it takes!" Folding her hands together, she created another batch of kage bunshin. Sasuke's eyes widened in horror. Surely she wasn't going to try that again? He cried out in alarm, eyes going to Narumi. "Stop it!" But he was already too late. The Narumis charged the mirrors as recklessly as before.

The myriad of Hakus raised their hands in unison, and sent yet another volley of senbon flying towards them. However, with the blonde at his back, Sasuke was able to focus his attention on a more manageable field of attacks, and was able to block most of them with his kunai. However, a few got past his guard, slicing through his skin before flying past him. One of the stray senbon buried itself in the back of his teammates thigh, and she yelped, going to one knee. He heard shifting cloth, and saw her reach back and yank the long needle from her leg, throwing it away from her, and glaring at the mirrors in front of her.

This time, Sasuke saw something. His eyes widened as he stared up at the crowd of kage bunshin intently. He could barely see a dark blur flashing from mirror to mirror, streaking by the bunshin very closely. As he tried to follow the movements of the blur, it seemed as if the bunshin slowed down, till they were drifting languidly through the air towards the mirrors. Suddenly, Haku seemed to be suspended in the air in front of him, and senbon were all around him, flashing by and tearing through him again. Sasuke flinched, his eyes clenching shut instinctively, and he lost track of the blur.

When the rain of senbon ceased, he immediately reopened his eyes and glared up at the mirrors. Narumi crashed back to the ground beside him with a frustrated yelp, but he ignored her, focused on the nuke-nin reflected in front of him. Narumi sat up next to him with a sharp breath, her voice confused. "What the hell..." Sasuke's eyes narrowed and he clenched his teeth as he focused on what he'd seen before. _'It was faint...but I saw a trace of his movement!' _Standing, he gazed hard at the mirror, an idea forming in his mind.

Narumi rose to her feet beside him, one fist held in front of her, her teeth bared in frustration. "One more time!" Sasuke sucked in a breath and half turned to her, knowing what the only possible result of another assault would be. But this time he didn't stop her. As the kage bunshin came into being and all of the blondes launched themselves at the mirrors, Sasuke ran forward and kicked some water from a puddle high into the air, keeping his eyes focused on it as it rose upwards.

Haku didn't seem to notice, focused as he was on the multiple yelling figures of Narumi. "You still don't understand that it's futile?" Narumi suddenly cried out in pain, the bunshin dispersing and her true body curling in on itself as she was sliced by senbon. Sasuke had a moment to see some of the water vanishing, knocked out of its natural path by that same dark blur, before he too was caught up in a painful attack. He was thrown hard to his back, and grunted as he struck the hard cement of the bridge. Narumi landed hard beside him with another yelp.

Sasuke took a shuddering breath, and rolled quickly to his feet. _'Just because I saw a trace of him doesn't mean that I can actually see him move.'_ Reviewing what he'd seen before, he tilted his head down. _'But...I could tell where he'd been by watching the water. It was repelled by him.'_ Sasuke glanced between the mirrors on either side of him, thinking hard. Then he looked back to the mirror directly in front of him. _'Okay, the next time he attacks. That's when I'll make my move!' _

Haku tilted his head a bit, as if listening to something, and Sasuke realized that he could no longer see between the mirrors. The mist had thickened so much that it was a dense white wall on which the mirrors seemed to be set. Visibility remained fairly good within the mirrors, but it was still thick enough that even Narumi's bright hair and clothing seemed slightly faded and washed out. The kunoichi did not seem to notice the change, her entire focus centered on the nuke-nin. With a fierce cry, she summoned more kage bunshin, and the whole lot of them sprang towards the mirrors again.

Sasuke started running through hand seals as Haku growled. "What a stubborn girl!" Sasuke kept his eyes relaxed, his focus encompassing the entire area within the mirrors as he waited for the flicker of movement that would tell him where to aim. When it came, Sasuke launched his katon without hesitation towards it. The flicker of movement altered course slightly, then continued, bouncing from mirror to mirror incredibly quickly. The bunshin dispersed one by one in front of Sasuke's eyes, and he bared his teeth, trembling as he watched the few remaining figures drifting closer to the mirrors even as their number dwindled.

The last remaining figure, the original Narumi, was nearly to the mirror she'd attacked. Sasuke took a deep breath and launched another katon off to the side of her as the blur of movement that was Haku flashed towards her. The blur altered course again, and then Narumi was crying out as her clones dispersed and she was falling back towards the ground. She impacted very hard this time, her body bouncing once, and rolling to a stop, leaving smears of dark red on the concrete as she went. Sasuke had to dodge her as she crashed past him, and turned towards her uncertainly. This was not good. She was taking so much damage!

As she struggled back to her feet, he narrowed his eyes, and turned back to the boy in the mirror. Eyes intent, he flicked his gaze over Haku from top to toe. His breathing was getting heavier as he exerted more chakra in this fight, but a fiercely exultant smile crossed Sasuke's face as he caught sight of Haku's singed ankle. _'Good. Although it's gradual, I'm getting the timing down!'_ As Narumi moved up to stand beside him, she growled in helpless frustration. "Kuso! And we were so close!"

Sasuke looked over at her calculatingly. "Narumi. Can you still move alright?" Her head whipped around, and she scowled at him, though she looked a bit unsteady. "Of course I can! I'm perfectly fine!" Sasuke stared hard at her, speculating. _'She's exhausted, but I guess that's no wonder. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu uses a lot of chakra. But because of that, I found a way to defeat this bastard.' _ Turning his face back to the mirrors, he locked his gaze on the scarred porcelain mask, and smirked.

As Haku began another attack, Sasuke's brows snapped down, and he began flashing through a series of hand seals as quickly as he could manage. Turning to Narumi, he snapped at her. "Narumi, run!" The blonde stared at him as if he'd lost his mind, eyes wide. "Get out of here and attack from the outside. Narumi straightened a bit, obviously uncertain about something, but Sasuke just glared at her irately. She nodded once, grinning slightly. "Got it!" With a quick movement, she dashed towards the nearest gap between the mirrors. Haku's voice was sharp and scornful as she shot towards the opening. "Will you be able to?" Sasuke held his breath. His trap was set. Now if only the nuke-nin would take the bait...

The mirrors flashed as Haku attacked, and Narumi was thrown back. She landed on her back, but rolled almost instantly, gritting her teeth stubbornly and resuming her sprint towards the same gap. "I'm not gonna lose!" Sasuke suddenly caught sight of Haku flying from one of the mirrors towards Narumi. With a quick breath, he sent a katon flying at the other boy. To his shock, Haku merely rolled and sent a senbon flying towards him, before landing in front of Narumi and backhanding her across the face, snapping her head to the side as she flew backwards towards the center of the enclosure. She landed hard with a choking gasp just as the senbon sliced deeply into Sasuke's shoulder.

Narumi groaned, her chest heaving. "That hurt!" When she didn't get back to her feet, Sasuke moved to stand beside her, and snapped irately over his shoulder. "Be quiet and get up, Dobe! I can't look out for you, too!" Narumi growled in annoyance, rolling onto her stomach and shoving herself to her feet. "Kuso!" Sasuke glanced at her, his voice uneven as he heaved for breath. "That was good." She glanced over at him, mouth slightly open in surprise. "Eh?" He shifted, eyes on their opponent. "Let's do it again." There was a moments silence, and then Narumi nodded once, face set. "Right."

Sasuke stared levelly at the icy mirrors. _'He has to run out of chakra at some point. He's already slowing.' _Narumi yelled, and charged across the open space towards the gap. Sasuke turned, and ran in the other direction from her, his feet pounding steadily against the slick, blood spattered concrete. Haku's voice rang out coolly. "I won't let it happen the way you expect. First I will stop you!" A senbon suddenly struck just below Sasuke's right kneecap, going straight through his leg and lodging there.

Sasuke's eyes widened slightly, white-hot agony surging through him as he gritted his teeth and swallowed back a scream. So far, Haku had only aimed to cut them, and he'd begun to wonder if the masked boy intended to bleed them dry. This senbon had been aimed to drive through his leg. With a pained cry, he threw up his arms defensively. Two more senbon drove through his arms just below his elbows, blood leaking from the wounds to stain the white cloth of his arm warmers red, and a third drove through the upper thigh of his left leg.

Narumi instantly stopped, turning back towards him with a concerned yell. "Sasuke!" As she turned towards him, four senbon sank into her back. Her eyes clenched shut and she screamed in pain, stumbling back towards him. Frankly, he was just glad that her spine hadn't been hit. As she moved, a fifth senbon drove through her right shoulder, it's tip erupting in bloody glory from her skin as it completely pierced her arm and lodged there, and a seventh struck her left calf. She managed to make it back to him, before she collapsed forward with a choked gasp.

Sasuke dropped heavily to one knee beside Narumi, who was laying on her belly, her back, shoulders, and the backs of her legs embedded with enough senbon to make her look like something out of a horror shop. Sasuke's eyes were wide, and his breathing was harsh and uneven as he fought against the pain. Narumi was gritting her teeth, obviously putting off moving as long as possible. Then Sasuke heard Saburo yell out in what sounded like fear. The Uchiha started, his head coming up. Narumi stumbled to her feet, causing an increase in blood flow from her wounds as she searched wildly for Saburo through the spaces between mirrors.

Sasuke followed her gaze worriedly. _'That was Saburo's voice! What happened? What is Kakashi-sensei doing?' _Turning, he glanced over at Narumi, who was breathing heavily, even as she tried to peer through the mist visible between the mirrors, which had thickened to an almost opaque wall at some point. He eyed her in concern for a minute. _'This is bad. I've got to do something.'_ Shaking his head, the boy looked away from Narumi determinedly. He couldn't afford to lose focus. He couldn't afford to worry about his teammates. If they weren't strong enough to look out for themselves, that was their business. He had an enemy to defeat.

Narumi suddenly stumbled. Sasuke's eyes flew back to her as she braced her hands on her knees, heaving for breath and glaring at a section of mirrors ahead of her. "I'll do something about this!" Sasuke's eyes widened in confused shock, and worry. With the amount of chakra she'd expended, and the blood she'd lost, the pain of her wounds ought to have knocked her out cold. But with a shuddering gasp, the blonde straightened, eyes determined. "Let's go!" Haku's voice was scornful. "How futile."

Narumi's chakra exploded out around her for a moment as she summoned it to her legs. With a cry, she raced towards one gap. Haku appeared in front of her, and she leaped backwards, arching her body into a flip, and twisting as she landed to race towards another gap. haku matched her, one reflection of him running alongside her in the mirrors. Glancing between Narumi and the mirrors, Sasuke's mind raced. _'My eyes are getting used to it...if I can just use that somehow...'_ Suddenly he caught a flicker of movement. "Narumi, behind you!" Her eyes widened and she whipped around, just in time to catch four senbon directly in her chest. She choked and swallowed down a scream, stumbling backwards and falling. With a twist of her body, she managed to land on her side so as not to further damage herself by accidentally driving the senbon further in.

Sasuke cried out instinctively in horror. "Narumi!" His muscles tensed, and he went over to her, dropping to one knee. Haku spoke to them, and his voice was cool and matter of fact. "It is impossible to get out of here, I can assure you of that." Sasuke ignored him, eyes focused on his partner. "Can you stand?" She grunted once in assent, reaching down to yank the senbon in her calf out, and pushing herself slowly to her hands and knees. The ground beneath her was dotted with dark blood, and yet more was dripping from her body and down her arms. Sasuke surveyed her with a furrowed brow, his voice scolding. "Don't waste your chakra like that anymore. It's what he wants!" She glared at the mirrors around them, voice quiet. "I know. I know that!" But Sasuke could see she was struggling.

Sasuke ignored the pained figure of his teammate, glaring up at his enemy, and standing. Haku cocked his head for a moment before addressing Sasuke. "I will end this now." With a flick of his wrist he sent a hail of kunai at the two of them. Sasuke's eyes widened, and he snatched up a fallen senbon, knocking the others out of the air. Haku tensed. Sasuke snarled at Narumi. "Get up, Usuratonkachi!" She glared back at him and stood with a growl. As Haku sent another wave of senbon towards them, Sasuke dodged frantically, knocking the senbon away as quickly as he could. Narumi managed fairly well, and he was able to focus on the fight.

Haku's voice hardened. "You...move well. Too well..." With a quick movement, he lifted a senbon in each hand, and vanished. Sasuke's head snapped up, and his eyes widened as his glare intensified. _'He's coming! Calm down, concentrate...and see through it!'_ With a sudden jolt, he realized that the attack was focused on the small area around him and Narumi. With a shout, he channeled his chakra into his legs, and upped his speed. Snatching Narumi around her waist, he lifted her up and dove out of the area of attack.

As the two of them crashed to the ground, Sasuke skidded further than Narumi, thanking Kami that he hadn't rolled and done more damage to himself with the senbon already lodged in his body. Narumi groaned as they hit the ground, slowly levering herself up onto one arm, her eyes dazed. Sasuke rose to his feet, and looked up, fixing his eyes on his enemy. Haku eyed him quietly, and when he spoke his voice was grave. "I commend you. You are somehow reading my movements. However, that's dangerous. I can't allow it to continue beyond this point."

Haku watched him dispassionately as Sasuke's legs trembled and gave out. He crashed to his knees with a pained grunt, his body shaking in exhaustion. The masked boy's voice remained even as he continued, his face tilting down to look at him as Sasuke cursed his weakness. "It seems you can no longer move. This is the end!" Haku threw a volley of senbon. They arced across the space between the two of them almost gracefully, flashing a dull silver even in the thick fog. The Uchiha instinctively closed his eyes against the impact. He heard the senbon strike, the slender lengths of sharpened metal sinking into flesh. But...he felt no pain. A soft, shuddering intake of breath caused him to crack his eyelids.

Sasuke's eyes shot wide open. His vision was filled with a field of orange set with a swirling red and black emblem. He blinked, uncertain, and looked up. A golden braid. Outstretched arms, pierced with senbon below both elbows. An orange and blue jacket with a white collar hanging limply, torn and blood-stained, pinned to a slender back with multiple senbon. Orange capris, equally torn and blood stained, streams of blood trickling out from the cuffs over the ankles they bared. Narumi. His dobe of a teammate. Haku was laying on the ground in front of her, just outside his mirror, and the kunoichis breathing was odd.

She turned just a bit, so he could barely see the curve of her cheek. "Geez, teme... For such an arrogant bastard, you sure are helpless." Sasuke blinked, caught between shock and irritation. "Dobe! You..." Then his eyes widened and he froze. Senbon stood out all around the kunoichi's neck, embedded in the flesh in a sick parody of a collar. With a sudden racking cough, blood surged from her mouth and splattered across the ground. She turned her face a little further to look at him, blood trickling thickly down her chin, and while the blue eye that he could see was amused, her voice was strained and faint. "What's...what's with that face, teme?"

Sasuke stared up at her, his body beginning to tremble, and his voice caught between helplessness and horror. "...why?" Something was thundering loudly in his ears, and at the same time everything seemed far too quiet. A tiny voice whispered in his mind. _'You saved me.'_ Narumi turned her head away. "How should I know?" She chuckled hoarsely. "I...I hated you...arrogant bastard..." Sasuke stared up at her, eyes wide and confused, desperation rushing through him. "But...but then...why...? Why me?" There was no response, and suddenly Sasuke was angry. Scowling, and ignoring the blurring of his vision and the watery warmth gathering in his eyes, he shouted at her. "I never asked for your help!"

Narumi shrugged her shoulders once, wavering on her feet. "Well...you're...my teammate aren't ya...Sasuke-teme?" Then suddenly she was falling backwards. Sasuke started, and jumped forward to catch her. Seven senbon now rose from her chest, the black cloth of her shirt glistening wetly around them, but too dark to show the redness of the liquid that soaked it. Sasuke looked away, focusing on the blood streaked, whisker-marked face beneath him. Narumi's eyes were vague, and didn't seem to focus correctly on his face. "...kuso...I...I wanted to...be hokage...wanted to...protect...Konoha..." Sasuke stared down at her, at a loss as to what to say. Inwardly he was screaming, desperately wondering where Kakashi-sensei was. Why wasn't the damn jounin here when they needed him?

Narumi heaved in a ragged breath, and gritted her teeth. "...don't...die...teme..." Sasuke jolted and stared as her face relaxed, and her body went limp in his arms. His eyes widened and he glared ferociously down at her, rage burning through him. "Oi...Dobe!" He shook her slightly, but she didn't move. The wetness that had been gathering in his eyes slipped down his cheeks as he stared down at her unmoving form, his body unable to move. Chakra rushed to his eyes without warning, and the world suddenly jumped into a sharp clarity that made Sasuke feel as if he'd been blind his whole life. As he gazed down at the blondes face, taking in every detail, he knew without a shadow of a doubt, that this would be seared into his memory for the rest of his life. Preserved forever in perfect detail.

Haku's voice came to him, distant, and slightly shaky. "She managed to land a blow on me...and died to protect you without even flinching. To protect a precious person, even knowing it would mean her death, she jumped in without hesitation. She was truly a kunoichi deserving of respect." Sasuke was vaguely aware that Haku was rising to his feet in front of him, but he didn't take his eyes from Narumi's body. He still felt as if this wasn't real. _'This wouldn't have happened if you hadn't come to help me...You can't be dead, Dobe! You wouldn't die on me right? I...I can't lose anyone else...you can't do this to me, dammit!" _ Haku's voice was even, and didn't waver again as he faded back into his mirrors. "Is this the first time someone has died to protect you? This is the way of the shinobi."

Sasuke's world was suddenly washed with red, the angry color coating everything and tinting Narumi's hair to the shade of fire. Sasuke's voice came out low, and dangerous as heat filled his veins. "Shut up." Still focused on Narumi, he lowered her gently to the ground. _'I hated you too...'_ Leaning forward and slowly lifting his eyes to Haku, he heard the roaring in his ears rise to a deafening crescendo as rage on level with his hatred for Itachi filled him, and he snarled at the masked boy. "You're gonna pay! I'm gonna kill you!"

Haku started a little, and Sasuke felt his chakra spike. "Sharingan! It's incomplete but..." The nuke-nin paused for a moment, and when he spoke again, his voice was uneasy. "I see...you are also from an advanced bloodline." Sasuke stood, ignoring the other boys words. At that moment, he hated Haku just as much as he hated Itachi. The masked nin had taken someone else from him. He had failed to protect someone yet again.

Haku launched more senbon at him, but secluded as he was in this sharp, red world, Sasuke deflected them easily, lunging for the masked boy who he could now easily perceive flying back and forth between the mirrors at speed so great that it far surpassed the capabilities of the normal human eye. When Haku darted out of his mirrors and tried to attack Sasuke directly, he dodged easily, swaying out of the line of attack. As he pivoted his body, he turned the dodge into an attack, twisting to slam the back of his fist into Haku's mask before the other shinobi could slip away into the mirrors. Haku's body spun awkwardly in place, and he grunted in surprise.

With a hiss, Sasuke launched a wave of shuriken and kunai at the mirrors, and this time they struck, cracking the mirrors. Haku had just regained his balance and turned to dart away when Sasuke moved swiftly towards him, catching his wrist in a vice-like grip. Haku murmured in pain, but Sasuke ignored him. Cocking his arm back, he threw the whole force of his body into a punch that connected solidly with the mask. Haku flew backwards, his wrist tearing out of Sasuke's grip, and he plowed through an ice mirror. This time, he traveled straight through it, shattering the thing into a collapsing pile of shards as he left the enclosed area.

As Haku left the mirrors vicinity, they cracked, and then shattered, fragments raining down. Sasuke glared after the other boy, eyes focused on where he'd plowed painfully across the surface of the bridge, kicking up sawdust and powdered concrete to blend with the thick mist surrounding them and obscure him from Sasuke's view. When the dust settled, and the nuke-nin came back into view, he was on his feet. And his mask was cracking, pieces of it falling away as it gave out.

Sasuke shot towards him with a growl. This time. This time his enemy would not escape him. This time he would die! As the mask crumbled away, the face that was revealed stopped Sasuke in his tracks, though the site of it only further fueled his rage. This was the boy he'd found with Narumi that morning in the forest. The boy he'd seen her speaking with, with that wide, friendly grin on her face. Blood was trickling down his chin, and his eyes were blank, but it was definitely him. Narumi had been blushing when Sasuke had walked up to her after he'd left. Blushing and muttering under her breath.

Sasuke growled, eyes intent on the figure in front of him, vibrating with anger. "You...you're from that time!" The other boy stared expressionlessly back at him. "Why did you stop...?" Sasuke scowled up at him, barely a foot away, and the other boys eyebrows drew down very slightly. "I killed your precious friend, yet you can't kill me?" His tone was slightly scornful and reproving. Instinctively, Sasuke glanced over his shoulder at Narumi's still body, and growled in frustration. He wanted to avenge her death. He wanted to destroy something, to vent his anger. And yet, when he looked at this boys face, all he could see was Narumi's friendly smile, and the bright blush that had painted her cheeks.

Sasuke shook his head furiously and hissed in frustrated agony. "Dammit!" He roared and punched the other boy across the face with all his strength. Haku's body twisted awkwardly to the side, thrown hard to the ground by the force of the strike. After a moment, he levered himself up, gagging, and spitting up a bit of blood. Sasuke watched him, and remembered the horrible racking cough Narumi had given that had brought up so much blood. But even with that image in his mind, the red had begun to drain out of his world. Though his abnormal visual acuity remained, the world seemed...lifeless. Pale and drained, without his fury to paint it into something vivid and real. He thought he might be sick.

Haku's voice was rough as he stood. "What happened to your intensity? You can't kill me like this..." Sasuke stared at him, unable to speak. Narumi's voice rang in his head, the words she'd spoken to him when he'd asked her about the mysterious boy he'd seen her with sounding in his ears. "I don't know who he is...but he taught me something important. I think we could be friends." Haku glared at him, wiping the blood off his chin with the back of his hand. "There are shinobi who make this mistake, not killing their enemy because of pity. But that...is cruel. Can you understand, little Uchiha? Not having a goal. Not being needed by anyone. The pain of simply existing?"

Sasuke snarled, desperately trying to recapture his desire to kill this person. "What are you trying to say?" Haku smiled gently, his face peaceful and calm. "Zabuza-san has no need for weak shinobi. You have taken away my reason for existing." Sasuke stiffened, and snarled angrily at the teen. "Why for a guy like that! He's a nuke-nin, a traitor and a criminal! Why is that scum so important to you? When someone like Narumi was so convinced you were a good guy...!" Haku's eyes were vacant, and he stared at Sasuke for a long moment.

"I had people who were dear to me, long ago. My parents. They were very kind people. But my mother and I carried the Kekkei Genkai. Our country hated and feared those who carried Kekkei Genkai, and so we had to hide it, even from my father. But we were discovered. And then my father killed my mother, and tried to kill me. Before I realized what I'd done, I'd killed my own father with my Kekkei Genkai that he feared so much." Sasuke stared at the other boy, eyes wide. It was a smaller scale, but it sounded much like the massacre of his own family. Only Sasuke had been unable to achieve his vengeance. Haku's eyes wandered slowly over to Narumi's unmoving form. "That girl must also have experienced much hardship, and faced much hatred. Such is always the way with Jinchuriki." Sasuke frowned, confused. _'What the hell is a Jinchuriki?'_

Haku looked down. "It was after I killed my father that I realized. I am a person is unwanted in this world. That...was the most painful thing of all." Haku looked up, his eyes hardening slightly. "Then I met Zabuza-san, and he took me in. The blood within me which everyone else hated...he said it would be useful to him." Haku smiled slightly. "I was so happy. From that time on, I have given everything I have to become a useful weapon to Zabuza-san." A shadow suddenly passed over Haku's face, and his voice became flat and dead.

"Uchiha-san, please kill me." Sasuke froze, face twisting. His thirst for blood had completely dissipated, and he had no wish to aid his enemy in an attempt at suicide. Haku frowned a bit. "Why are you still hesitating?" Sasuke glared at him. "I don't understand! Just for the sake of becoming strong? You killed Narumi just for that? And now, after taking away her life, you're just going to throw away your own? That's practically spitting on her sacrifice! How could you do that?" Haku's eyes softened as he glanced at Narumi's body again. "I'm sorry you will have to dirty your hands, Uchiha-san. But this truly is the only way. And besides, would it not be more disgraceful if you were to throw away the life she died to protect?"

Sasuke opened his mouth, uncertain what it was he wanted to say, and frustrated. Turning, he looked back over his shoulder, letting his eyes linger on the corpse behind him. "She...Narumi also had a dream..." Haku nodded once as Sasuke turned his gaze back to him. "I know." Sasuke gritted his teeth. Looking at Haku, he knew now that he could find it in him to complete his mission. He could kill this person in front of him if he had to. But he also knew that he would not enjoy it. Haku looked at him for a long moment, and must have seen something of his revelation in his face. He smiled slightly, and dropped his head. "Thank you, Uchiha-san." Sasuke reached for his holster. If he was going to do this, he might as well make it as quick and clean as possible.

With a quick flick of his arm, he sent the kunai hurtling across the space between them. At the last second, Haku's eyes widened, his head snapping up, and he knocked the kunai away. Sasuke instantly dropped back into a battle stance, surprised and wary of Haku's sudden reversal of attitude. Haku's dark eyes cut away into the fog to their left, and suddenly they were intense. "Sorry Uchiha-san, looks like I can't die yet." Just as before, the nuke-nin began flashing through hand signs. Sasuke's eyes widened as he recognized the jutsu as the one he'd just broken out of at the cost of Narumi's life.

Before he could take any action, Haku vanished, his body blurring away too fast for Sasuke to follow without the sharingan.

Sasuke looked around wildly, setting his jaw as he tried to find the other boy. Suddenly, an enormous shockwave blasted past him, whipping at his hair and clothes as he instinctively threw up his arm to shield his eyes. The mist around him had begun to thin, and the shockwave thinned it further yet. When Sasuke lowered his arm, he could see much farther. Through the mist, he could see three dark figures. _'Over there!'_ Fishing another Kunai from his holster, he held it tightly and ran towards the group. As his view of them cleared, he stopped in his tracks, eyes widening. _'Wha...what the hell?'_

Haku stood between Zabuza and Kakashi-sensei. Kakashi-sensei's fist was thrust through his chest, a crackling, twisting ball of blue-white lightening fading from his hand. An ice mirror was shattering behind Haku as he lost his grip on the Jutsu, and Zabuza and Kakashi were both staring silently at the boy covered in his own blood. There was a moment of stillness, broken by a racking, wet cough from Haku, as blood sprayed from his lips. Glaring defiantly at Kakashi, he reached up and grabbed the Jounin's wrist, holding his hand buried in his chest. "Zabuza...san..."

Sasuke stared in horror as the older nuke-nin lifted his eyes back to Kakashi, his voice only slighter rougher than before as he addressed Kakashi. "My future is death? You're wrong again Hatake." Haku said nothing, blood pumping rhythmically from his body, gushing around Kakashi-sensei's hand with a sickening rhythm only to fall into the ever growing puddle of viscous red under the boys geta. Sasuke was no iryou-nin, but all shinobi recognized arterial bleeding. Kakashi-sensei must have damaged an artery, and Haku's heart was now steadily pumping his blood out of his body. Without a fully trained iryou-nin present to treat him, Haku's death was assured.

Sasuke trembled, staring at the boy he had so recently wanted to kill. The boy who was so similar to himself in some ways. "What...What's the meaning of this?" His voice shook as he spoke, and he doubted anyone heard him. Distantly, he thought that Haku must have done the same thing as Narumi. Jumping in thoughtlessly to protect someone else. _'Idiots...'_ He felt numb as he looked at the older boy glaring fiercely at his Sensei, death in his eyes and a triumphant smirk on his lips. Zabuza chuckled. "Splendid, Haku."

Sasuke sucked in a lungful of air that seemed painfully cold, and watched as Kakashi-sensei lifted his gaze from the teenager whose chest his arm was currently embedded in, to the boys master. Zabuza reached for the handle of the giant sword strapped to his back, and drew it with a roar. Saburo was standing defensively in front of Tazuna, just beyond the three man group, and the rosy-haired boy cried out in alarm. "Watch out!" Kakashi-sensei's eyes widened, but he couldn't pull away because of the grip Haku had on his wrist. "I sure did pick up something nice, huh Hatake?" Sasuke stared, his sharingan activating as he did, bringing the world into an incredibly sharp focus, allowing him to see everything, from the last fold of Kakashi's clothes, to the individual drops of blood splattered across the side of Haku's face._ 'Is he going to cut through his own comrade to get to Kakashi-sense?'_

As Zabuza attacked, Kakashi-sensei leaned forward, wrapped an arm gently around Haku, and leapt away, carrying the dying teen with him. Zabuza's blade swept harmlessly through the space where they'd been, as Kakshi-sensei somersaulted backwards through the air to land in a crouch a few yards away, Haku's body limp in his arms. Zabuza chuckled, eyes narrowing. "I see. Haku must be dead if you were able to dodge that." Sasuke's brows snapped down into a glower, and he bared his teeth. "You bastard!" Before he could move, Kakashi-sensei snapped out an order at him. "Sasuke! Stay there and don't interfere!" His voice was angry as he lifted his eyes from Haku's body to Zabuza. "This is my battle!" Sasuke's body trembled with the need to attack something, to vent his frustration, grief, and anger, but he obeyed his orders.

Kakashi-sensei gently laid Haku's body on the bridge, and passed his hand over his face. Part of Sasuke's mind realized he must have closed Haku's eyes. The other boy really was dead then. Sasuke suddenly felt almost sick with a violent relief that he hadn't had to close Narumi's eyes. It would have been so final. So wrong. Shaking his head, he shoved that relief, and the thoughts that brought it on, to the very back of his mind. He couldn't think of Narumi right now. Couldn't think of a blonde braid and a stupid grin spattered with blood and pierced with senbon. Not now, with the real enemy in front of him and looking to kill the rest of his team, starting with his Sensei.

Suddenly, Sasuke startled as Saburo called out to him. The green-eyed boy was waving, and his voice was relieved. "Sasuke! You're okay!" Sasuke hunched his shoulders guiltily as he stared at the other boy from beneath his long bangs. _'Saburo...what will he say?' _The other boy seemed not to notice his reaction. "Where's Narumi?" Sasuke swallowed hard, and looked away from him, fists tightening. Against his will, a perfect image of Narumi's still body rose before his eyes. Saburo's voice suddenly tightened, though he tried to keep it level. "Sasuke...where's Narumi? She's with you, isn't she?" Sasuke tightened his jaw, grinding his teeth together, and clenching his eyes closed, desperately trying to shut out the imprinted image of his blonde teammate. He heard Saburo suck in a breath, but the other boy said nothing else. Sasuke knew he must have realized what Sasuke had done. What he'd allowed to happen. Kakashi-sensei murmured his name, but Sasuke didn't turn his head back or open his eyes.

Zabuza's voice suddenly rang out, sharp and out of place. "Hatake! You don't have time to turn your attention away from me!" Sasuke heard the enemy move across the bridge towards Kakashi-sensei. Heard Kakashi grunt as something struck flesh hard. For a moment he thought that Zabuza had landed a hit, but then he heard Zabuza choke out a pained sound, and the ringing sound of his over-sized blade clattering down to the stones of the bridge. Beyond the noises of the fight, he heard Tazuna's voice. "I'll go too. That way you won't have to disobey your sensei's orders." Saburo's voice was soft and worried. "Yeah. Thanks." Sasuke slitted his eyes open a bit, just in time to see Saburo run past him holding Tazuna's wrist, his face filled with dread and focused on the area of the bridge still hidden by mist. "Narumi..."

* * *

><p>Saburo plunged into the mist ahead of him, legs pumping as he ran, his grip tightening on Tazuna's wrist. It wasn't long before a still form came into view. His mind blank, Saburo ran towards it, and soon found himself standing over Narumi's body. Senbon stood out of her body all over her chest, arms, legs, and around her neck. Her braid was splayed limply next to her head, just missing a puddle of blood, it's bright golden color out of place in this washed out scene. A line of blood was drying on her chin, and her eyes were closed. She wasn't breathing. Saburo's breath caught, and he stared down at her in horror. Beside him, Tazuna sucked in a horrified breath, and Saburo sensed him turning his face away. But Saburo couldn't look away. Couldn't tear his eyes from the girl in front of him. His idiot teammate.<p>

Trembling, he knelt beside her, reaching out to brush his fingertips across her face, sliding the pads of his fingers across the whisker marks on her cheeks, and gently wiping away the blood on her chin. Narumi was always smiling at him, always so happy to see him. She always blushed whenever they touched. He'd always found it annoying and embarrassing. But now, she wasn't blushing. Her face was unchanged, and she didn't smile. Her skin was cool to the touch, and it didn't radiate warmth as it should.

Blankly, he stared down at her, his voice even. "She's cold. This isn't...a genjutsu huh?" Tazuna shifted behind him, his voice grave. "The poor girl. To die so young...you don't have to hold back because of me, young man. It's alright to grieve." Distantly, Saburo heard him, but he couldn't bring himself to think much about Tazuna right now. He pulled his hand back for a moment, staring down at the slender girl in front of him. How could she be dead? Narumi might have been an idiot, but she was strong. He already knew she was better in a fight than he was. How could she die here? His stomach twisted, though his gaze remained steady and calm. Whatever else she was, she was his teammate. He should have been here to help her. To protect her. How could this have happened? Sasuke was with her, wasn't he? Surely Sasuke would have protected her? No matter how long he thought about it, he couldn't understand it. He couldn't accept that she was dead. It all seemed so unreal. The distant, bookish part of his mind informed him that he was in shock. He didn't much care at the moment.

Leaning forward, he fingered one of the senbon protruding from her arm. He frowned, doing his best to force back the thickness in his throat that was choking him, and the watery heat in his eyes that was blurring his vision. He couldn't leave her like this. He wouldn't. Gently, he pulled out the senbon, throwing it away towards the side of the bridge, and noting that the small wound closed almost immediately. Determinedly, he began to slowly extract the others, delicately making sure not to do any more damage to her body as he spoke to Tazuna, amazed at the calmness of his own voice.

"I...always got perfect scores on the tests given in the Academy. I memorized all the ideals of shinobi life. Over one hundred of them. I was always so proud when I knew the answer." Taking a shuddering breath, he threw aside another senbon as it slid free of Narumi's flesh with a wet, meaty sound. He'd pulled out nearly all the senbon in her chest now. "The 25th clause of the shinobi code is this. A shinobi must not show...any emotion in any situation. A shinobi must put his mission first, and have a heart that will not allow him to cry." Wet trails of warmth began to slide down Saburo's cheeks as he extracted the senbon buried in his comrades neck. He scrubbed the back of one hand across his eyes as he worked, cursing himself for showing weakness. For not being able to help when his teammates needed him. He'd removed most of the senbon when he finally lost it. Scooping Narumi's limp form into his arms, he held her against his chest and rocked, eyes staring blindly out into the mist. _'Sasuke...Kakashi-sensei...somebody help me...Narumi...she...'_ But no one came, and Saburo was left alone with a civilian, and the body of his teammate. His chest tightened, and his body shook, and suddenly a cry of stunned horror and grief ripped its way out of his throat. Burying his face in the shoulder of the bloodstained orange jacket, he wailed.

* * *

><p>Behind him, Sasuke heard Saburo cry out. Clenching his teeth, he tightened his grip on the handle of his kunai until his hand squeaked against the wrapping. Kakashi-sensei was fighting Zabuza in front of him, but instead of focusing on the impending death of the man who had brought all this about, all the Uchiha could think of was how he was ever going to face Kakashi-sensei and Saburo when this was all over. How could he ever explain that his pride, his arrogance, led to the death of the teammate he was supposed to fight alongside.<p>

Suddenly a cruel chuckle broke through his thoughts. It took him a moment to understand why. It wasn't Zabuza. An oily, gleeful voice yanked his attention to the end of the bridge just beyond Kakashi-sensei's battle with Zabuza. "Oh, looks like you got beaten pretty badly." A short, paunchy man with a receding hairline, a business suit, and a cane was standing there smirking arrogantly at the shinobi in front of him. Kakashi-sensei and Zabuza both cut their eyes towards him as he continued to speak. "I'm disappointed in you, Zabuza." Sasuke's eyes widened. This must be the civilian who had employed Zabuza and Haku to kill Tazuna. Gatou. Behind him was a large group of thugs. Low-level mercenaries who would be no trouble even to genin on their own. However, a large group of them facing down severely injured shinobi...that was another story.

Zabuza growled irately at the man. His arms had both been disable by Kakashi-sensei, and hung limply at his sides. It was clear he was at a disadvantage, but the nuke-nin remained as defiant and scornful as ever. "Gatou...why are you here? And what's with the subordinates." Gatou's smirk grew a bit. "We had a little change in plans. I'm sorry Zabuza, but you're going to die here." Zabuza's voice sounded slightly surprised. "What was that?" Sasuke watched with wide eyes as the nuke-nins employer casually betrayed him. "If I were to hire village shinobi to assassinate the old man, it would be expensive, so I hired a nuke-nin such as yourself. But then, you still cost money. I was hoping you shinobi would just kill each other off and save me the trouble and money of dealing with you. But you couldn't even manage to take one of them down, and even lost your own subordinate. And you call yourself the demon of Kirigakure? If you ask me, you're nothing but a cute little devil."

Towards the end of his speech, Gatou's voice had become mocking, and the men behind him roared with laughter, jeering at the wounded and exhausted shinobi. Kakashi-sensei and Zabuza were both silent, an aura of deadly tension nearly visible around them. Sasuke stared at the new group blankly, his mind unable to fully take in the implications of this new development. Zabuza suddenly spoke, his words directed to Kakashi-sensei, though his gaze remained fixed on the laughing pack of mercenaries. "Hatake, I'm sorry, but our battle ends here. Since I no longer have a reason to kill Tazuna, I have also lost my reason to fight you." Sasuke watched as Kakashi sensei shifted in his crouch so that he was side by side with Zabuza, staring down the mercenaries and their master. His voice was calm and serious when he replied to the nuke-nin. "Yeah, you're right."

As the two of them spoke to each other, Gatou strolled forward, his walking stick clicking rhythmically against the bridge as he paced forward to stand over Haku's corpse. "Oh yes, I owe this one a favor." His voice was calm and apathetic, but the expression on his face was cruel. "For gripping my hand until it broke." Sasuke blinked. So that was why the man wore a cast on one arm. He felt a sense of dim satisfaction that Haku had had the sense to strike out against this disgusting being. That lasted up until Gatou savagely slammed the butt of his walking stick into the side of Hakus head, grinding it against his cheek. Sasuke surged forward instinctively, growling deep in his throat as more chakra rushed to his eyes to fuel his sharingan into combat readiness. Gatou's voice was gleeful as he shoved at the dead teens face. "He's already dead, huh?" Sasuke roared. "Damn it, stop!"

Before he could charge the man, Kakashi-sensei swung out an arm, thumping Sasuke's chest hard with the back of his hand. "Sasuke! Don't let your anger cause you to act foolishly!" Sasuke gritted his teeth, and whipped his head around to glare at Zabuza. "Why don't you say something? He died for you!" Zabuza growled at him. "Shut up brat. Haku's already dead." Sasuke hissed. "So what? You're just gonna let that guy get away with this?" Zabuza didn't look at him. "Haku was merely a tool that I used for his abilities. I've merely lost my tool. I have no regrets." Sasuke snarled. "What di dyou say?" Kakashi-sensei's large hand clamped onto Sasuke's shoulder. "Sasuke, leave it! He's not our enemy anymore!" Sasuke knocked his teachers hand away, eyes locked on Zabuza, and in his mind, he saw a figure beside him. The elder brother he had once loved so dearly. The elder brother who had slaughtered their entire clan in a single night only to test his abilities. "He died for you! How can you not feel anything? How can you not care! He gave up everything for you, and you only call him a tool? Do all people who become strong think like that?"

Heaving in a shuddering breath, Sasuke glared up at the broad back in front of him.

Zabuza's voice was choked when he replied to him. "Brat. Haku...I wasn't the only one he protected you know. I know. I've always know he was too kind." Sighing, Zabuza shifted, and suddenly the bandages wrapped around his face fell away. "I'm glad. I'm glad that our final opponents were honorable shinobi." Glancing back over his shoulder, he chuckled, but somehow the sound wasn't as grating as it had been before. "Hatake, I guess you're right. Throwing away emotions didn't make me any stronger. I still lost Haku. I guess I lose, huh?" Turning away, the nuke-nin set his shoulders, and his voice became firm. "Brat. Give me your kunai." Sasuke looked away, and nodded once. "Un." With a flick of his wrist, he sent the kunai flipping slowly through the air towards the man who had been the enemy of his team.

Zabuza caught it in his teeth, and shot across the bridge towards Gatou, who was standing with his mouth gaping open as he stared at the nuke-nin. Turning, Gatou lumbered back to his men with the limping, awkward, shuffling run of an old, overweight civilian, screaming as he went. "Kill those guys!" One of the men stepped forward, his voice arrogant as he smirked at the oncoming figure. "Do you really think you can take down so many of us on your-" He never even finished his sentence. Zabuza was past him in an instant, slashing at him and the men around him with quick turns of his head, whipping his body around as his arms flopped uselessly at his sides. Leaping into the air, dodging through the crowd, and killing as he went, Zabuza deftly avoid most of the blades being slung in his direction by the rank amateurs Gatou had surrounded himself with.

Zabuza took out a great number of the mercenaries as he made his way through the crowd after Gatou, but one finally managed to ram a spear into his back. Zabuza stumbled once with a pained noise halfway between gurgle and grunt. Then he shook himself, and ignored the spear embedded in his back, continuing after his prey with relentless eyes. One more man managed to bury a spear in Zabuza's back, and then he was breaking through the last of the mercenaries, and lunging after Gatou. With a savage twist of his head, he buried his kunai in Gatou's chest. Gatou hacked up blood, and Sasuke swore he Zabuza smirk, before the nuke-nin was blocked from view by the mercenaries running up behind him to bury their weapons in his back. He was still standing when they pulled back, though his back was covered in the protruding shafts and handles of far too many weapons.

Gatou pressed a hand to his wound, snapping at Zabuza. "If you want to go to where your friend is that badly, go by yourself!" Zabuza's voice was sharp and vindictive as he turned his head to fix his eyes on Gatou. "Unfortunately, I won't be joining Haku. Where he's gone, I cannot follow." Turning, he limped towards the small man in his suit. Gatou stuttered in fear. "Wha-what? Don't act so tough!" Zabuza leaned over Gatou, backing him towardss the edge of the unfinished bridge, his grin predatory and entirely too toothy. "No, my friend, it's the other place we're going to! You and me both. I can't think of a more fitting destination for the demon of Kirigakure, can you? Oh yes, I should fit right in! You on the other hand Gatou! Well, I fear you're in for a very long and painful eternity!"

Leaning forward, Zabuza locked his jaw around the kunai buried in Gatou's body, ripped it from his chest, and slashed it across his throat, spraying the small mans blood into the air as he stumbled back over the edge of the bridge with a scream to plummet into the water below. There was a long moment of silence, and Sasuke stared with his mouth slightly open. This was the shinobi that he and Narumi had faced on their own? Suddenly he had a much greater appreciation for Kakashi-sensei's repeated orders to run. Suddenly the crowd of mercenaries parted, whimpering in fear as Zabuza turned towards them. With a groan, Zabuza dropped the bloody kunai, and stumbled towards Haku's body. He was only halfway there when he fell to his knees, his breathing wet and uneven. He muttered something under his breath, his eyes fixed on the unmoving body of his young companion. Then he collapsed forward heavily, and didn't stir again.

Sasuke gritted his teeth and looked away, swallowing hard, his eyes still pulsing with chakra, memorizing everything he laid eyes on, engraving it into his memory. But he didn't want to have this scene replaying behind his eyelids. This damn bridge was cursed. Kakashi-sensei suddenly spoke, his voice firm, eyes fixed on Zabuza's body, the tomoe in his sharingan eye whirling slowly. "Don't look away. This is the end of a shinobi who lived fiercely and desperately." Sasuke sucked in a breath through his teeth, and looked back to the two bodies laying amidst the mercenary crowd . "Yes, Sensei."

* * *

><p>Saburo's tears were still silently running down his face and soaking into the orange jacket he'd pressed it to. A damp spot was steadily growing there. His crying had lost some of it's intensity, and he'd stopped rocking, but he still felt empty and sick. Clenching his fists in the orange cloth beneath his hands, he murmured helplessly against his teammates shoulder. "Narumi...come on, this isn't funny. Narumi!" Suddenly the body in his arms shifted, and a strained voice mumbled at him. "Saburo-kun, I can't breathe!" Saburo's head shot up, and he stared disbelievingly at the kunoichi. Narumi had lifted her head and was blinking slowly at him, her face still too pale and smeared with blood, but her blue eyes bright as ever. "Narumi!" The girl blinked at him dazedly, looking almost half-asleep. There was a moment of stillness, where Saburo didn't dare move, for fear he'd find himself suddenly holding a corpse again. Then he sucked in a breath, shot to his feet, arms still locked around Narumi, and whirled her in a circle, laughing hysterically even as he scolded her. "Don't you ever do that again! I swear, you ever scare me like that again and I'll kill you myself, you dobe! You idiot girl!"<p>

Narumi yelped, and mumbled, slapping a hand against his bare shoulder and blushing a bit. "Saburo-kun! Stop it!" Behind him, he could hear Tazuna sniffling, but Saburo couldn't stop himself from laughing with relief. Narumi was alive. Narumi was alive and everything was going to be alright! After a moment he stopped spinning. Narumi almost immediately started trying to wriggle free of his grip and stand on her own. Saburo glared down at her. "Idiot, stop! You shouldn't be moving!" Narumi squinted up at him, unrepentant. "Where's Sasuke-teme...? And what happened with the masked boy?" Saburo half turned back towards where he could now see Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei. The mist was lifting slowly. "Sasuke is fine. And the masked guy...he's dead." Narumi's head shot up to stare at Saburo with wide eyes. "Dead? Did Sasuke kill him?" Saburo shook his head. "No. He protected Zabuza, and was killed in the process." Narumi stared down the bridge towards the bodies of Zabuza and Haku.

After a minute, she wriggled out of Saburo's grip, and gingerly stood on her own feet. Saburo watched her anxiously "Oi! Be careful, you're lucky you didn't really die!" Narumi merely stared at Haku's body for a minute, before straightening. Saburo turned towards Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke, heaving in a deep breath, and shouting, waving one hand while he clamped the other over Narumi's shoulder to keep her steady. "Sasuke!" The Uchiha half turned to glance over his shoulder in their direction, and Saburo beamed. "Narumi's alright! She's alive!" Sasuke whipped around to stare at them, his mouth dropping open in surprise.

Saburo glanced at Narumi, and she rubbed the back of her head with embarrassment, not looking at either of the boys. Sasuke glanced back and forth between Narumi and Haku's body with a look of astonished relief on his face. Saburo felt like whooping. Everything would be alright now. They were all alive, Gatou was dead, and they would be fine!

* * *

><p>Sasuke was still staring at Narumi when Kakashi-sensei murmured quietly beside him. "I see, so Narumi's safe too. Thank goodness." Before Sasuke could say anything, one of the mercenaries banged his weapon against the bridge, his voice annoyed. "Hey! You damned ninja killed our paycheck!" Sasuke's head whipped around at the same time as his sensei's and they both stared down the bridge at the remaining thugs. As the thugs became increasingly rowdy, Sasuke cut his eyes between his two teammates standing further back down the bridge, and the new enemy in front of them. Saburo appeared to be trying to restrain Narumi, who seemed like she was trying to charge down the bridge and jump into battle. Kakash-sensei's voice was hard. "This is bad." Sasuke whipped his eyes around to lock with Kakashi's. "Kakashi-sensei, don't you have some sort of jutsu that can beat these guys all at once?" Kakashi shook his head once, eyes fixed on the rowdy mob at the end of the bridge. "No. I've used up too much chakra." As the mob charged them, Sasuke tensed, dropping into a battle stance. And as he did, a bolt flashed overhead, and landed with a ringing sound in front of the oncoming mercenaries, halting them in their tracks. Sasuke and his team whipped around to look back down the bridge.<p>

Inari stood at the head of a large crowd of villages, all armed with makeshift weapons such as pitchforks and fishing spears. Inari himself held the crossbow that had launched the bolt. One of the men standing beside him shouted down the bridge threateningly at the mercenaries, his face hard, and his arms bulging with the formidable muscles of a lifetime of hard labor. "Anyone who gets any closer to our island, will have to deal with us!" The villagers roared their agreement, shaking their spears, picks, axes, and other weapons at the mercenaries. Narumi cheered, and grinned back down the bridge. "Inari!" Inari grinned. "Heroes are supposed to come late, right Onee-chan?" Sasuke smirked.

Narumi suddenly turned back towards the mercenaries, and grinned at Sasuke as she lifted her hands into a cross shaped hand sign. "Kage bunshin!" Suddenly five Narumis sprang to stand beside Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei, grinning cheekily at the two of them, despite the wounds and blood they bore. Kakashi-sensei spoke before Sasuke could say anything. "Narumi, you've taken heavy wounds! Get back and let us handle this!" One of them rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "You don't have to worry about that, Sensei. Boss isn't here." Sasuke blinked as the clone pointed back down the bridge to where Saburo had hooked his arms underneath Narumi's, and planted his feet, holding his much aggrieved looking teammate off the ground to prevent her escape.

Kakashi sighed, and Sasuke shook his head. "Well then, I suppose I ought to do something as well." Making a hand sign, he murmured under his breath. "Kage bunshin, Kakashi style!" Suddenly, a wall of blood-stained, irritated looking Kakashi-sensei's formed a wall between Sasuke, the Narumis, the original Kakashi, and the Mercenaries. A rumbling chorus of frighteningly smooth voices rang out together. "Shall we begin?" The mercenaries broke and ran for the boats that had brought them to the bridge. The villagers cheered wildly, and once the mercenaries were gone, Narumi and Kakashi-sensei both dispelled the clones they'd made. Sasuke turned and walked back to his teammates, eyes fixed on Narumi. She grinned up at him as he approached. "Oi, Sasuke-teme!" Her eyes widened, and she stared hard at him. "Your eyes..." Saburo shifted to peer into his face, and Sasuke snorted at them in an attempt to look annoyed, and cover up his embarrassment as he consciously stopped the flow of chakra to his eyes, allowing his sharingan to fade. "Dobe." Turning to face back towards Kakashi-sensei, he took up the position on the opposite side of her from Saburo, brushing her shoulder with his as he did, subtly making sure she was real. The contact relaxed him, and his stomach finally unclenched.

Kakashi-sensei was carrying Zabuza's body down the bridge when Sasuke looked for him. He set the nuke-nin's body beside Haku, and then walked back towards the three of them, his hitae-ate once again covering his sharingan eye. Sasuke heard a sniffle, and looked over in surprise. Narumi was scrubbing at her eyes with the heel of her hand. Looking over her head at Saburo, he saw that the other boy didn't seem to have any idea what to do either. Silently, they turned back to the approaching figure of their sensei, shifting a little closer to their kunoichi teammate in a silent offer of support. Kakashi-sensei stopped in front of the three of them, his eyes traveling over them. "Let's go home."

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><p>Sasuke watched as Saburo stood up from in front of the two graves they'd dug at the top of the cliff overlooking the ocean from the mainland. "Kakashi-sensei? Are shinobi really just tools, like Zabuza said?" Kakashi-sensei shrugged, eye thoughtful. "Well, that is what we're supposed to be. That idea exists even in Konoha." Narumi scuffed her foot across the ground, frowning slightly. "I really...don't like that idea. I don't want to be like that." Sasuke watched her for a moment as she walked forward to stand in front of the graves. The sun was setting right in front of them, and it's fierce light reflected off her hair, turning it to a fiery red-gold that was almost to bright to look at. "Yosh! I've decided! I'm going to follow my own nindo! I'll run straight down the path where I won't have to regret anything!" Sasuke's eyes widened, and then he cocked his head thoughtfully. <em>'The path where you won't have to regret anything...huh?'<em>

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><p><em><strong>AN: **Hello all. I hope you liked the chapter. _

_To start with, I had Haku 'kill' Narumi instead of Sasuke for a couple of very good reasons. First, since I made him more affectionate towards Narumi, he didn't want to hurt her, and he thought it would be better to give her minor physical injuries and some pain than to force her to watch the 'death' of a teammate. Also, Haku knew she valued her precious people, but he saw Sasuke as arrogant and prideful. Concerned primarily with his own goals (accurate assessment at the moment, actually). So he decided to teach Sasuke a lesson about valuing his teammates, and it apparently worked pretty well. And the reason Sasuke's revenge instinct (and you know he has it!) didn't go all out on Haku and have Sasuke killing him, was because it was Haku. Sasuke saw him as someone Narumi felt friendly towards. He is very angry because he sees Haku as a manipulative enemy who betrayed Narumi's trust. But he can't kill Haku because he feels it would be a further betrayal of Narumi's memory. Add to that that once he knows Haku's story, he sees something of himself in Haku, which only makes him feel doubly guilty. _

_Also, because Narumi died for Sasuke, that will help get rid of this idea that anything is justified if it gives him power to kill Itachi. Saburo's reaction to Narumi's 'death' was the most difficult to write. The idea is that he, being a gallant, kind natured guy, felt like he had failed to protect Narumi when he discovered she was dead. He doesn't like her romantically, but her death is still a devastating blow, and he doesn't know how to handle it. It makes him Much more protective towards Narumi, and changes his attitude towards her a bit. Also, it puts a crack in his blind hero-worship of Sasuke, because even though he'd never say it aloud, in his eyes Sasuke also failed to protect Narumi. It's not a condemnation on Saburo's part, but he feels that Narumi should have been safe with Sasuke, and she wasn't. It makes Sasuke more human to him, and also allows him to doubt Sasuke a bit, though he does still admire him._

_Yeah, so that's it. If you guys have any questions or suggestions, please leave a review! They warm my heart, and are always much appreciated! _


	7. The Chuunin Exams

Saburo cracked his neck, sighing and stretching his arms out as they walked. It had been about a month since they'd come back from their mission to Nami no Kuni, and things had, for the most part, returned to normal. They were back to D-rank missions inside the village, pulling weeds, cleaning up litter, babysitting, and other basic chores for civilians. There were a few things that had changed though. He sometimes caught Sasuke staring intensely at Narumi, and every once in a while, that stare would morph into a frustrated scowl. This was especially common after missions, though he didn't seem to actually be angry with Narumi. Inevitably, the blonde would catch him staring at her, and glare back at him. Sasuke would instantly look away from her, and pretend the whole thing had never taken place. Saburo still wasn't sure what was up with that.

He himself had taken to calling their kunoichi teammate 'Narumi-chan'. To his own surprise, the first time he'd talked to Narumi after the battle on the bridge, the more affectionate and familiar term had slipped out without his thinking about it. Narumi had been even more startled than he was, blushing and instantly dodging away from him, muttering about helping Kakashi-sensei as she dashed off. It had felt odd at first to call Narumi of all people by the suffix, but he was slowly getting used to it. Narumi herself was bright and cheerful as ever. If anything she only seemed more determined of late.

The three of them had gotten better about working together as a team after their return to the village, and often finished their missions early in the day. As they had just done. After weeding a garden, cleaning a river and its banks of litter, and walking dogs for the civilians, they had found themselves finishing up their mission quota for the day just before noon. Saburo rolled his shoulders, allowing his muscles to relax. D-ranks might be tedious and boring as heck, but they were still manual labor, and he was sore quite often afterwards. Contentedly, the rosette basked in the warm sun and cool breeze, absently noting the call of a hawk ringing out above the village. Behind him, Kakashi stopped walking, his voice lazy and relaxed. "Well then. I'd better go submit the mission report to the Hokage. How about we call it quits for the day?" Saburo stopped walking at the same time as his teammates, glancing back at the jounin. "Sure, Sensei." Kakashi nodded once, and vanished with a puff of smoke and a quick discharge of chakra. Saburo looked back at the other two, but before he could speak, his stomach growled loudly. Narumi lit up, bouncing eagerly on her heels. "Ne, ne, how about we go get some ramen for lunch?"

Saburo rolled his eyes, and Sasuke looked away with a muttered "Dobe." Honestly, the girls ramen obsession knew no bounds. But before Saburo could answer, he was distracted by a box painted with cracks, with two eye holes poked in the front end shuffling noisily up behind Narumi. He stared at it. _'Is that supposed to be a rock?'_ The blonde heard the shuffling, and stopped, twisting around to peer at the thing with a long-suffering expression. There was a moments silence, then Narumi turned back towards Saburo and Sasuke, and walked a few paces towards them. As she did, the box shuffled forward after her. When she stopped, so did the box. Saburo watched, caught between amusement and confusion as the kunoichi ran back and forth down the street, followed at all times by the box, which seemed to have six small legs sprouting from underneath it. This continued for a few minutes, until Narumi suddenly whipped around, planted her feet, and set her hands on her hips, staring down at the box, which screeched to a halt in front of her almost comically. Narumi narrowed her eyes, and pointed at the thing accusingly. "Square rocks with eyes and legs don't exist!"

Saburo stared as the muffled voice of a small child came from the box. "Just what I'd expect from the woman I acknowledge as my greatest rival!" Saburo heard something sparking to life in the box, and his eyes widened. "What the-" The next thing he knew, there was a quick series of explosions, not loud enough to alarm anyone living in a shinobi village, and three clouds of smoke erupted into being in place of the box, one pink, one yellow, and one blue. Saburo stared as Narumi took a step or two backwards, making a face and waving one hand in front of her nose, as if she'd gotten a face full of a terrible odor. From within the smoke cloud, Saburo could here choking and coughing. Blinking, he exchanged a glance with Sasuke, who had raised his eyebrows in an expression of bemusement. As the smoke cloud cleared, three children came into view.

They were on their hands and knees, coughing and gasping for clean air, and looked like they were Academy children. There was one little girl with vivid orange hair, one boy with glasses, light brown hair, and heavily flushed cheeks, and one boy with spiky brown hair and a ridiculously long scarf. Each of them wore a pair of dark green goggles on their heads, and the spiky haired boy seemed to be the leader of the little group. Scowling and squinting his watering eyes against the last remnants of smoke, he chided the other boy indignantly. "Udon! You used too much gunpowder!" Narumi nodded emphatically. "Yeah, way too much." The three of them seemed to realize all at once that Narumi and her teammates were still standing over them with somewhat bemused expressions.

Leaping up and striking a group pose they grinned widely up at blonde kunoichi in front of them. "Yosh! The Konohamaru Corps has arrived!" Narumi laced her hands together at the base of her skull, apparently unsurprised by this turn of events. "I thought it was you guys under there." Then she shifted her weight as she looked down at them. "Hey, why are you all wearing goggles?" Their grins widened, and the spiky haired boy reached up to adjust his. "We copied the old you, Nee-chan! You used to wear goggles before you got your Hitae-ate, right?" Saburo blinked. Nee-chan? Narumi however, seemed to be used to the form of address.. "Aa, I see. So what did you want?" Suddenly the little group shifted, and the little girl stepped forward, her face uncertain. "Well, Leader, do you have time right now?" The spiky haired boy bounded forward to stand beside her, face bright. "Yeah, you said you'd play ninja with us!"

Sasuke snorted, and Saburo could tell he was amused at the scene in front of them. "What's the point of shinobi playing ninja?" Narumi looked back over her shoulder in surprise, the three children clutching at her capris and leaning around her legs to peer suspiciously at the two boys behind her. The spiky haired boy glared indignantly up at them, his eyes sliding back and forth between the two before settling on Sasuke. "Oi, what's your problem!" The little girl peered up at Narumi uncertainly. "Leader, who are these guys?" Narumi looked back down at her and grinned. "These are my teammates, Saburo Haruno, and Sasuke Uchiha!" The spiky haired boy jumped out from behind Narumi, crossing his arms over his chest importantly. "Yosh! I'm Konohamaru, number one genius of Konoha, and these are my fellow corps members, Moegi, sexiest girl at the Academy, and Udon, smartest of all the Academy students." Saburo opened and closed his mouth, not sure how to respond. Moegi blushed, and looked up at the two of them hopefully. "Do you want to play ninja too?" Sasuke snorted and looked away, ignoring everyone. Saburo looked at the kids pleading faces, and Moegi's wide, glittering eyes. He sighed. "Sure, why not?"

Moegi cheered, and Konohamaru darted forward with a fiendish grin as he kicked Saburo's shin. Hard. "You're it, baka!" Saburo yelped in pain, hopping up and down on his unharmed leg as he tried to cradle the smarting limb to his chest. Squinting one eye closed, he glared down the street, trying to ignore Sasuke's amused huff of suppressed laughter. Konohamaru had taken off down the street, and was leading the other three. Udon was just ahead of the girls. Moegi had grabbed Narumi's hand, and dragged her off after her friends, and Narumi was obviously matching her pace to theirs. Saburo growled ominously, his vision zeroing in on the end of the blue scarf flapping in the breeze. Oh it was SO on!

Launching himself down the street, the rosette chased after the group, fully intending to catch the brat. He'd nearly caught up to them after a few blocks, and they'd only lasted that long because the kids knew the streets better than he did in this part of the village. Plus, as a point of pride, he refused to use any shinobi skills to catch an Academy brat. With a triumphant crow, he whipped around the last corner, and stopped dead. Konohamaru was on the ground in front of two strange shinobi. Both of them were boys, a year or two above Saburo's own age. One had dirty blonde hair of a much duller shade than Narumi's, standing out from his head in a fiercely untamable brush, a strong face, and slanted eyes that were a deep emerald green, richer in color than Saburo's own. He wore a violet-white wrapped tunic slightly open over a short sleeved mesh shirt, tied with a thin red sash looped twice around his waist, and long dark pants with ties snugly secured just below the knees. Thick cuffs of dark leather adorned his arms, the plate of a hitae-ate attached to the cuff on his right arm, and a katana hung across his back, it's hilt protruding over one shoulder. The other was wearing a full black body suit, complete with a headpiece that completely covered his hair, had some sort of odd ears on top, and hung in a thick curtain around the back and sides of his neck. There was a circle, half yellow and half purple emblazoned on his chest, and jagged purple markings like flashes of lightening slashed and flowed across his face. A large object that eerily resembled a body was wrapped tightly from tip to tip in bandages, and strapped to his back, a shock of hair flopping limply out of the top. His Hitae-ate was attached to his headpiece, and gleamed sharply above his black eyes.

Narumi stood just in front of the two boys, and behind Konohamaru, the other two kids hovering behind her uncertainly. Saburo narrowed his eyes. Those were NOT Konoha shinobi. He moved forward to flank the two children, watching the strange shinobi warily. Narumi tilted her head, staring at the strangers, bemused. The boy in black was staring cooly down at Konohamaru. "That hurt." Leaning down, the strange shinobi grabbed the front of the smaller boys shirt, lifting him off the ground, all the way up to his own eye-level, and letting him dangle there. Narumi cried out sharply, body tensing. "Konohamaru!" The boy kicked his legs and grabbed the wrist of the older boy with both hands. The boy beside him sighed, voice bored. "Stop it. I don't want to have to sit through another lecture because of you. Besides," Here his eyes slid to Narumi, and a smirk quirked the corners of his mouth as he looked her over appreciatively. "it's not good to tease pretty girls."

Saburo's brows snapped down, and he stepped to the front of the group, laying his hand protectively on his female teammates shoulder, his voice tight. "I'm sorry. The kids were just playing around. They didn't mean any harm." His eyes narrowed as both the other boys eyes went to him. _'Who are these guys, and how the hell did they get into the village?' _Narumi glared at them, blue eyes snapping fire. "Oi! Put Konohamaru down!" A sly smile spread across the face of the boy in black. "But I want to play around before some noisy people come." Saburo glared at him. "Put the kid down. Now." The other shinobi's smile widened, and his fingers flicked in an odd movement. Saburo's feet suddenly yanked out from under him, and he had to release Narumi's shoulder as he crashed hard to the ground. Narumi yelped in surprise. "Saburo-kun!" The boy in black laughed. "Hey, Aniki. Konoha's genin are weak." As he spoke, he lifted the struggling Konohamaru a bit higher, causing his two little friends to call out in alarm, tears of fright forming in their eyes. Narumi growled, and bared her teeth. She shot forward with an angry cry. "Teme!" Saburo tried to surge to feet, still unable to properly control them. "Narumi-chan!"

The foreign shinobi clearly were not expecting the kunoichi to charge them, or engage them in close combat. Their eyes widened, and Narumi's target was unable to get his guard up in time. With a savage growl, she punched him, slamming her fist squarely into his solar plexus. With a twist of her body, she threw her whole weight into the punch as it landed, and causing the larger shinobi to double over, gasping for air as the breath was driven painfully from him. In his shock, he released Konohamaru, and Narumi jumped at the chance. She wrapped an arm around the childs middle, scooped him up, and dashed back to Saburo's side. Saburo lurched upright, suddenly in control of his own body again, and instantly took up a defensive stance at Narumi's side as she set Konohamaru on his feet, and shoved the boy behind her. The blonde stranger laughed out loud, eyes flashing appreciatively. "Weak are they, Kankuro? What're you then?" The boy in black, Kankuro, growled, eyes narrowing as he took a threatening step towards them. "Why you-!" His older brother casually thumped the other boys shoulder with the back of his hand, letting it rest there and halting his movement. "Hey, hey. Cool your head a bit." Kankuro growled, and shrugged his older brothers hand away. "I'll crush the damn brats!" He took a lunging step forward, stretching out his hand as if to attack. He suddenly grunted, and stopped, snatching his outstretched hand back to cradle it against his chest.

A pebble bounced to the ground. Saburo blinked as the strange shinobi looked down at the rock, and then up into a tree on the side of the road. He followed their gaze, and sighed in relief when he saw Sasuke. The Uchiha was sitting on the branch of a tree, leaning against the trunk in a pose of utter relaxation. He bounced another pebble lightly in his hand, and his eyes were hard as he stared down at the two strangers menacing his teammates. "What do you think you're doing in another's village?" His voice was cool, and demanding. Kankuro glared up at him, a promise of danger in his dark eyes. The other strange shinobi looked up at him blankly, eyes evaluating, and he frowned slightly, though his body remained relaxed. Kankuro scoffed, voice radiating anger. "Another brat to piss me off..." Sasuke's brows lowered further yet, though his voice remained cool and even. Catching the pebble in his hand, he clenched his fist tightly around it, crushing it to powder, and opened his hand to let the dust trail away in the slight breeze. "Get lost."

Saburo grinned admiringly up at his teammate. Just like Sasuke. He glanced down in surprise as he felt small hands grip his pants tightly. Moegi was clinging tightly to his leg, her large eyes fixed unwaveringly on Sasuke with a look of starry-eyed admiration, and a faint blush was spreading across her cheeks. "So cool!" She squeaked. Saburo blinked down at her, and rested a hand reassuringly on her head. When she looked up at him, he grinned. "Don't worry, Moegi-chan. Sasuke can handle these guys." Then turned back to the scene in front of him. Sasuke always did have his fan club. Kankuro was apparently less impressed. "Oi. Come down here, brat. I hate kids like you who think they're so clever." Reaching up, he grabbed the bandage wrap that strapped his mummy-like baggage to his back, and yanked. As the bandages began to unravel from his shoulders, his elder brother started, eyebrows rising slightly. Uncrossing his arms, he stepped to his younger brothers side, eyes sharp. "Baka! You're going to use Karasu now?" Kankuro ignored him, swinging the object around in front of him, and bracing one hand on top of the mop of hair as he glared up at Sasuke. Suddenly a new voice, soft and flat came drifting down from the tree.

"Kankuro. Stop. You should listen to Teruyoshi." Saburo started, and his eyes jumped to the source of the voice. There was another foreign shinobi standing there, upside down on a branch on the opposite side of the trunk from Sasuke. He had short red hair, pale blue eyes lined in black, the kanji for love painted on his temple above one eye, and a large gourd strapped to his back. Saburo stared at him wide eyed. When had he gotten there? Beside him, Narumi shifted, and he could have sworn he heard her sniffing at the air. The new boy ignored them, addressing Kankuro. "You're a disgrace to the village." Saburo stiffened, as did the other three genin on the ground. But despite the enormity of the rebuke, Kankuro did not get angry or snap back at the younger boy. Instead, a nervous smile spread across his face. "Ga-Gaara." The red headed boy ignored him, and his pale eyes rolled slowly towards Sasuke, who was eyeing him cautiously from the other side of the trunk. Then he rolled his eyes back to Kankuro.

"Why do you think we came all the way to Konoha?" Kankuro held out his hands placatingly, looking frightened. "Listen Gaara, these guys started it..." The red head never changed his expression, and his voice remained flat. "Shut up." Kankuro started, and swallowed hard. The pale eyes narrowed, and his voice hardened somewhat. "I'll kill you." Kankuro nodded once, securing the object back onto his back. "I get it Gaara, I was at fault. I'm sorry, really I am." Teruyoshi narrowed his eyes slightly, and stepped a bit forward, tilting his head up to look at Gaara, and crossing his arms casually over his chest. "Let him off this time Gaara, okay? He won't do it again." The red head stared blankly at the blonde for a long minute, then nodded once, and turned his head to the little group on the ground. "Excuse them, you guys." Saburo watched him with wide eyes, tensing as the other shinobi turned his attention to them, and shifting closer to Narumi. _'Who the hell is this guy, that his own teammates are afraid of him?'_

The red head rested his gaze on Narumi for a moment or two, and then turned his eyes to Sasuke. The Uchiha stared back warily, and Saburo felt the tension in the air begin to increase again as black eyes locked with washed out blue. Then Gaara dissolved into ribbons of sand that cascaded down to the ground, twirling around each other gracefully as they went. Sasuke narrowed his eyes and stood, and Saburo locked his eyes on the sinuous mass of sand as it descended to ground level. It reformed on the ground to reveal the crouched figure of the red headed shinobi. He straightened from his crouch and turned to Teruyoshi and Kankuro. "Let's go. We didn't come here to fool around." Teruyoshi shrugged his shoulders once, his eyes sliding closed. "Heh. Sure thing little brother." As they started to turn away, Saburo sucked in a breath, taking a couple of steps forward, and calling out to them. He was grateful that his voice remained steady. "Wait just a minute."

They stopped moving, and all three of them looked back at the rosette. Saburo straightened his spine and eyed the trio distrustfully. "Judging from your Hitae-ate, you're shinobi of Sunagakure. Hi no Kuni and Kaze no Kuni have an alliance, but a treaty prevents shinobi from entering each other's countries without permission. State your purpose." It was Teruyoshi who answered him, one brow raising in a skeptical expression. "You don't know?" Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a card and held it up. "This is a traffic pass. You guessed correctly, we're genin of Sunagakure. We're here to take the Chuunin exams." Saburo's eyes widened. So that was it. Sasuke suddenly dropped down next to him, eyes focused on Gaara's back. "Hey, you there. What's your full name?" The red head looked back towards him. "Sabaku no Gaara. And you?" Sasuke's mouth quirked up into a tight smirk. "Sasuke Uchiha." There was a moment of silence, and then Gaara turned away. Kankuro followed suit, and Teruyoshi looked back at Narumi, and winked. "See ya 'round, beautiful." With that, the three of them sprang away over the rooves.

Sasuke's smirk had soured, and Saburo gritted his teeth. He did not like that blond genin from Sunagakure. Both of them glanced back at Narumi, who was red as a beet, and glaring after the three Suna shinobi in a flustered manner. Konohamaru and the other two children were still huddled behind her legs, but Konohamaru was also glaring fervently after the three outsiders. "Hey, Narumi! Are the kids alright?" Narumi blinked, and looked back at Saburo, her blush fading. "Yeah, they're okay." Saburo and Sasuke exchanged a glance. "Sasuke, you think we should report this to Sensei?" The Uchiha grunted and looked at his feet, eyes sparking with interest. There was long silence, and then Narumi's stomach growled. With a smile, she grabbed Konohamaru and Moegi's hands. "Ne, ne, I'm starving! Let's go have some lunch!" Starting forward, she moved past the two boys, and then glanced over her shoulder at them, Udon trailing in her wake. "Well? Are you coming or not?" Saburo opened his mouth, closed it, and then shrugged and followed her. Sasuke rolled his eyes at them, snorted, and walked slowly after Saburo as they headed towards Ichiraku's.

The next morning, the three of them waited on the bridge as usual. Sasuke leaned against the railing casually, Narumi perched on it beside him, swinging her legs, and Saburo stood on her other side. Saburo was still somewhat wary of the foreign shinobi present in the village for the chuunin exams, and repeatedly scanned their surroundings, determined not to be caught off his guard. When Kakashi-sensei appeared crouched on the tori at the south end of the bridge, Saburo and Narumi both whipped their heads around to glare up at him indignantly. Kakashi lifted one hand casually in greeting. "Yo. Sorry I'm late. See, on the way here I got lost on the path of life and..." Saburo and Narumi shouted in unison. "It's a lie!" Un-phased, Kakashi leapt down to the bridge, and fixed the three of them with an even stare. "Well, I'll get to the point then." Sasuke moved forward from the railing, and Narumi hopped down from her perch to face her Sensei. Saburo cocked his head curiously. Kakashi-sensei seemed more serious than usual today. He wondered what was up.

"I've recommended all three of you for the Chuunin selection exams. So..." Here he extended three slips of official looking paper towards the three of them. "...here, take these applications." Saburo blinked, looking back and forth between his sensei and the forms in his hand. "The Chuunin exams?" Kakashi sensei inclined his head once. "Yes. However, the recommendation does not force you to take it. It's your choice to participate in the exams or not." Narumi beamed, and threw herself on Kakashi-sensei's neck with a cheer. "Yatta! You're the best Kakashi-sensei!" Kakashi cleared his throat, almost losing his balance as the blonde exuberantly hugged him. "Alright, I get it." As the girl released his neck, he handed her a slip of paper.

"Only those who wish to take the exams are to sign the applications. If you do sign, you'll have to be at the Academy by three in the afternoon, five days from now. The first exam will be held in room 301." Turning he held out the other two slips to Saburo and Sasuke. Saburo eyed them uncertainly. Sasuke reached out and took his own from Sensei with an air of cool confidence. Saburo sighed and retrieved his own with considerably more hesitation. He was not so sure this was a good idea. Especially if shinobi like those Suna genin were going to be entering. Kakashi nodded to the three of them slightly. "Maa, you can take some time to think about it. Just don't wait to long." With that, he vanished in a swift discharge of chakra and smoke.

Narumi bounced off down the street, and Sasuke drew even with her, easily keeping up with her pace, despite his unhurried movement. Saburo looked up from his application form, and yelped. "Wait for me!" Quickly, he dashed forward to catch up with them, taking up a position on Narumi's left side. Narumi giggled, still holding up her application with a delighted grin. "The Chuunin exams, huh? There must be a lot of strong shinobi there." Saburo glanced over at the beaming blond, uncertain as to how exactly she could be so excited over the prospect. Sasuke huffed slightly, and Saburo turned to look at him. It wasn't as obvious with Sasuke as it was with Narumi, but the Uchiha's mouth was curled up into a challenging smirk. He too was excited. Saburo felt his stomach churn nervously. Was he the only one who was uncertain about this?

There was a hesitation in Saburo's stride, and he found himself dropping back a pace. He stopped moving for a moment, watching the other two continue walking on ahead of him. Narumi had just tucked away her application into her shuriken holster, and had laced her hands behind her head as usual. Sasuke had his hands tucked into his pockets, and he looked as confident as ever. _'I don't want to do this. I can't keep up Sasuke, not even with Narumi-chan. How can I take the Chuunin exams?' _Swallowing hard, he caught up with the others once again, but he remained silent until they reached the turnoff that led to his own home, just down the street from the Yamanakas. "Jaa, till tomorrow, Sasuke. Narumi-chan." Sasuke grunted, and Narumi waved cheerfully at him. "G'bye, Saburo-kun!" Saburo shook his head, and turned down his street, his steps heavy with dread. What in the world was he going to do?

Saburo dropped his head, and walked by the Yamanaka flower shop as quickly as possible. He had no desire to run into Inori right now. The other boy might be his best friend, but that was all the more reason Saburo wanted to hide his current weakness and indecision from him. The blonde was from a long line of shinobi, and despite his mischievous and flirtatious personality, he had the determination and strength of generations in his blood. Saburo, as a first generation shinobi, had no such resolve, and didn't want to shame himself in front of his friend. With a sigh of relief, he reached his own home, and ducked inside. Shaking his head, he slipped off his combat sandals, and lifted them in one hand, stepping easily up onto the hardwood floor beyond the entrance. "I'm home."

There was no answer. He blinked and sighed. It was still pretty early in the day, his parents were probably still busy in the store. The Harunos ran a small grocers store, a fairly prosperous business, if not startlingly successful. Closing his eyes, he leaned his head back against the door. Sometimes he wished he had shinobi family members, like the other genin. Perhaps if he was from a shinobi bloodline he wouldn't be so conflicted about the exams. Blinking his eyes open, he headed quietly up to his room. It was surprisingly neat and clean considering that it belonged to a boy. Saburo walked straight through it to the glass doors that led to his balcony. Sliding them open, he stepped out onto the balcony, pulling his sandals back on as he did. Sitting down on the stone bench that ran the length of the balcony wall, he braced one foot on the edge of the bench, and stretched the other out in front of him, draping an arm over his raised knee, and leaning his head back quietly. "The chuunin exams, huh?"

He'd been sitting there for about fifteen minutes, when a familiar voice called out to him. "Hey, Saburo." Startled, he twisted around, and stared blankly down at the dark haired figure in the street. "Sasuke? What's up?" Sasuke shrugged. "Do you want to train together? I could use some help with my taijutsu." Saburo blinked, a pleased grin spreading across his face. "Really? You want to train with me?" Sasuke nodded. "Like I said, I could use a good sparring partner." Saburo nodded, and vaulted over the edge of the balcony, landing lightly beside his teammate. "Sure, no problem. Did you have a particular training ground in mind?" Sasuke nodded. "Training ground fourteen." Saburo grinned. "Alright then, let's get going!" As Sasuke led the way out to the very edge of the village, Saburo followed him easily, hands tucked into his pockets as he chattered brightly about this and that, temporarily forgetting his nervousness over the chuunin exams. He had better things to focus on at the moment.

When they'd gotten pretty far out, and were still walking along the river, Saburo grew still. Then he asked quietly "Sasuke, what's up with you wanting to train all of the sudden?" Sasuke stopped walking. When he spoke he didn't turn. He kept his back to Saburo, and his voice was serious. "Saburo, you shouldn't take the chuunin exams. It's too early for you." Saburo kept his gaze fixed on Sasuke's back, his tone subdued. "You think so, huh?" Sasuke's voice was sympathetic, but he still didn't face his rosy haired teammate. "The chuunin exams are filled with many skilled shinobi. If something goes wrong you could die." Now he did turn to look at Saburo, his eyes serious. "Or worse, get us killed. Do you want Narumi's death on your head?" Saburo dropped his head, eyes narrowing as he gritted his teeth. "Sasuke...I..."

Suddenly, a strange figure with the hitae-ate of Amegakure appeared on one of the thick wooden posts driven into the ground a few feet behind Sasuke. "Whoa, that's pretty cruel, Konoha-san! To say such a thing to your own teammate..." The strange man with his blank eyes and heavy cloak burst into laughter. Sasuke cut his eyes sideways and turned his head slightly to fix the newcomer with a stare. "Get lost, unless you want to die." The strange shinobi dropped his head, voice angry as he sprang into the air. "Don't act so tough." With those words, he unleashed a swift barrage of shuriken towards Sasuke. The dark haired boy widened his eyes, and spun around to meet them. Knocking them out of the air with his kunai, he darted towards his attacker with a growl. "Didn't anyone ever tell you that it's bad manners to interrupt someone?"

Saburo tensed, and made to run after his teammate. "Sasuke!" The strange ninja threw an umbrella at Sasuke, and the Konoha genin growled, throwing his kunai to intercept it. "Like that will work on me!" As the kunai impacted the umbrella, it transformed to a hail of kunai, heading straight for a very shocked looking Sasuke. Saburo cried out in alarm as the kunai impacted, throwing up a great cloud of dust. "Sasuke, are you alright?" When the dust settled, it revealed Sasuke's corpse, bleeding from the wounds inflicted by nearly a dozen kunai buried in his body. Saburo dashed forward with a sharp cry, sliding in-between the stranger and Sasuke to drop to one knee over his teammate.

The strangers voice sounded from behind him as the rosettes shoulders shook violently. "If you don't want to become like that, you'd better give up on the chuunin exams." Saburo finally let his self control slip. He threw back his head and laughed uproariously. The strange shinobi grunted in surprise as cool jade eyes turned to him, a smirk curling slowly across the face of the young Konoha genin. "You seriously think this will make me back out? I already knew this was a genjutsu from the start. And a pretty pitiful one at that. Really, the whole thing is so damn cowardly." The other shinobi shifted backwards, voice puzzled. "What?" Saburo straightened, ignoring the scene at his feet as he turned to face his enemy, his voice cool. "The real Sasuke would never ask anyone for help with training. And he certainly wouldn't ask me to be his sparring partner. He knows I'm weaker than he is. This sort of cheap trick won't work on me."

The other Shinobi's expression didn't change. "Cheap trick, you say?" Saburo nodded once, sharply. "Got that right. By the way, this illusion of yourself isn't much better than your fake Sasuke, so you might as well drop it. I already know you aren't really here." The foreign shinobi laughed maniacally. "Well, we'll see about that, won't we?" With a swift movement, he sent another umbrella hurtling towards Saburo, it's sharpened tip gleaming dangerously as it flashed towards him. Saburo frowned lightly, and walked smoothly forward, not even hesitating as the weapon flew towards him. As the umbrella reached him, it flickered and became transparent, passing harmlessly through his body before returning to it's apparently solid state. Saburo stopped and stared at the other shinobi. A slight smile quirked at his lips. "See? Nothing but an illusion."

The other ninja laughed. "You're Kakashi's subordinate all right. But in the chuunin exams, this will be reality. Will you really be able to accept it?" With those parting words, the illusion dispelled, fading away into the evening mist. Saburo clenched his fist and shoved one hand into his pocket. "Bring it on!" As he turned on his heel to go, he shivered inwardly. _'Now if only I were really that confident.' _He sighed, and shrugged his shoulders. Then he tilted his head back to look up at the sky. "Well, might as well go turn in the form, and get some training in." With a fresh wave of determination, he set his shoulders, brushed his weapons pouch with his fingers, and headed for the Hokage tower. He would worry about the exams when they came.

Saburo closed the front door behind him, wearily kicking off his combat sandals, and scooping them up as he stepped up onto the hardwood of the hall. "I'm home." Unlike earlier, the house was filled with savory scents, the light in the kitchen was on, and his call provoked an immediate response. His mother leaned out of the kitchen, her ruddy hair caught back in a messy bun at the nape of her neck, and an apron tied securely over her clothes. "Ah, Saburo! Welcome back. I was just finishing up dinner, won't you come and eat?" Saburo nodded. "Aa, I'll be right down." His mother smiled brightly, and moved back into the kitchen, humming quietly as she checked a simmering pot. Saburo glanced in at her as he walked down the hall. Bounding up the stairs, he pulled open the door to his room, and walked in. Carefully, he pulled out a cloth and wiped down the soles of his combat sandals, removing any dirt that had collected on the soles. He had noticed that the traction was better if he took the time to clean off his sandals at the end of the day. When he was done, he set the sandals neatly in the closet, unbuckled his shuriken holster and weapons pouch, and placed both of those beside his sandals. Sliding his closet closed, he left his room, and washed his hands quickly, before padding downstairs and slipping into the kitchen.

Quietly he helped his mother set the table for dinner, surreptitiously leaning over a pot and taking a deep, appreciative sniff. Curry for dinner tonight. As his mother handed him plates of rice and curry for the table, his father walked in. Seichi Haruno was a broad shouldered man with messy brown hair, and pale gray eyes. He had a kind face, and was well known among the civilians in the village as a fair man whose little store was guaranteed to have fresh vegetables and fruit of some kind in every season. The man blinked, and then smiled at Saburo, ruffling his pink hair as he set down the last plate. "Welcome home, Saburo. Long day?" Saburo blinked uncertainly, then circled around the table away from his father to sit at his own place. "Mm. Sort of." As his parents sat down, they turned questioning eyes on him. He shook his head once. "Just training. Nothing to worry about." They exchanged glances, and his father smiled at him in relief. "Well, I'm sure you can handle it son." Saburo nodded, and dug into his food. After a minute, he glanced up at his parents again. "By the way, I'll be taking the Chuunin exams this year. They start next week. So I won't be able to help out with the shop for a while." His mother smiled brightly, tucking a stray strand of pale red hair behind one ear. "That's fine dear. I'm sure you'll do wonderfully, you always were good at tests." Saburo smiled once as his parents went back to their meal. Perhaps it was better they didn't understand what he was getting himself into. He'd hate to worry them.

It was the appointed day for the beginning of the Chuunin exams. Saburo took a deep breath as he rounded the last corner and the Academy came into view. Sasuke and Narumi were already waiting for him in front of the doors. Narumi spotted him as he walked up, and waved cheerily. "Saburo-kun! You're late." She eyed him suspiciously for a moment. "Kakashi-sensei's not starting to rub off on you, is he?" Saburo shifted his weight, shoving a hand into one of his pockets and scratching his cheek sheepishly with one finger. "Yeah, sorry about that, Narumi-chan. Overslept." Glancing over at Sasuke, he narrowed his eyes slightly. Even though he knew it had been an illusion, he couldn't help hearing Sasuke tell him that he was going to get the both of them killed. The accusation had rankled, especially coming from someone who'd already allowed their teammate to experience a brush with death.

When he spoke, Saburo's voice was tentative when he spoke. "Good morning, Sasuke." Sasuke glanced at him, dark eyes somewhat curious. "Morning." Narumi shot between the two of them without warning, bouncing on her heels. "C'mon c'mon, let's go!" Saburo sighed and rolled his eyes. Sasuke snorted. "Dobe." The two of them followed after her, as the blonde kunoichi threw open the door, and dashed into the building ahead of them. They climbed the stairs, and found themselves at the back of a murmuring crowd of genin, all of varying ages. There was some sort of commotion going on at the front of the crowd, and Saburo frowned. _'What the hell...?' _Narumi scowled, and squirmed her way through the crowd to the front. Saburo yelped in protest, following her as best as he could, elbowing people out of his way as he went, and ignoring the irate cries that followed him. He knew Sasuke wouldn't be far behind him either.

The three of them broke out of the crowd to see a strange sight. A boy with shiny black hair styled into a bowl-cut, and bushy eyebrows over very large eyes, wearing a skintight, bright green body suit had just been knocked to the ground. He wore bandages wrapped around his forearms and hands the same way Saburo did, and striped leg-warmers over his combat sandals. He was looking slightly worse for wear, as if he'd already been knocked down a few times. Another boy knelt beside him, resting one hand on the other boys shoulder in a gesture that was both support and restraint. This boy wore long dark pink and gold chinese tunic with three quarter sleeves over dark pants, and wore his hitae-ate around his forehead. He had large brown eyes, and brown hair that was only partly pulled up, the rest allowed to hang loosely around his shoulders, two framing pieces falling over his hitae-ate. A girl stood just behind and to the side of them. She was hauntingly beautiful in a sleeveless beige kimono that fell to her calves, splits running up the sides of her legs to her hips to allow freedom of movement. A wide brown obi was wrapped snugly around her waist, and tied into a bow with long tails in the back, complimented by a darker brown hitae-ate tied around her forehead. Underneath the kimono she wore dark, form fitting pants that ended just above her knee, and one leg and arm were wrapped entirely in bandages. Her pale lavender eyes marked her as one of the Hyuuga, and her long dark hair was pulled back in the traditional style of her family. All were Konoha shinobi.

In front of them were two older boys, who had obviously been pushing the genin team around. Their voices were scornful and mocking as they leered at the three genin in front of them. One of them spoke up, apparently unimpressed by his fellow Konoha shinobi. "You're trying to take the Chuunin exam with only this level of strength?" His partner took up his thought smoothly. "Maybe you should quit now, brats." The two of them were planted firmly in front of the door marked 301. The chinese looking boy gritted his teeth, and stood up, his voice polite and reasonable. "Please let us through. We don't want any trouble." As the boy walked forward, one of his tormentors arched an eyebrow, and punched him hard across the face, sending him stumbling back to land beside his teammate. The crowd murmured reproachfully, and one of the two boys blocking the door snorted. "What was that? We're being kind to you, you know. The Chuunin exams are very difficult. People give up being shinobi after taking them. Chuunin are team leaders you know? It's their job to take responsibility for the mission, and the deaths of their subordinates. And brats like you think you can make it? There's nothing wrong with us sifting out those who aren't going to pass anyway."

Sasuke suddenly stepped forward and spoke, his voice cool. Saburo tensed a bit, glaring at the two bullies before them, as he and Narumi instinctively flanked Sasuke. "That's a sound argument. But I will be passing. As will my teammates." Ignoring the abused team beside them, Sasuke took another step forward, snorting derisively. "So why don't you undo this genjutsu field? I want to go to the third floor." The two bullies shifted, faces losing their confident smirks as the stared at him hard. "You noticed?" Sasuke smiled, not a smirk but a real, triumphant smile, as he turned his head a bit towards Saburo. "Saburo, why don't you tell them? You probably noticed before me." Saburo blinked in surprise, his eyes flickering over the scene in front of him. Then he grinned back, and turned bright eyes on the older shinobi. "Of course. This is the second floor." Narumi grinned brightly, practically radiating pride in her team as she nodded emphatically. "Mm!" The air around the sign over the door seemed to warp and twist, and revealed the true numbers labeling the room. 201.

One of the two boys regained his smirk, eyeing the three of them calculatingly. "You're pretty good. But just being able to detect it isn't enough." Suddenly he launched himself at Sasuke in a full out attack. Saburo fell into a defensive crouch as Sasuke shot forward to meet him. A green blur suddenly leapt between the two of them, and caught their ankles as they moved to kick out at each other. It was the boy in the green body suit who'd been in the process of being beaten up when they arrived. Saburo blinked in surprise. _'He's fast! And strong enough to stop Sasuke's kick with one hand! It's like he's a different person...'_ After a moment, the boy let out a breath, and released his two captives, allowing them to straighten back up. His teammates walked up to him, and the Hyuuga was frowning, her quiet voice displeased. "You broke the promise. Weren't you the one who wanted to stay under the radar?" The black haired boy mumbled under his breath. "But..." Saburo blinked as his eyes cut to Narumi, and his cheeks flushed red. The chinese boy sighed. "She must be why..." Narumi blinked, and looked back and forth between her teammates and the boy in green.

The boy walked right past Sasuke, and up to Narumi, completely ignoring the blondes teammates, eyes complete intent on the kunoichi. "My name is Rock Lee. You're Narumi-san, aren't you?" Narumi blinked and took half a step back uncertainly. "Eh?" The boy beamed at her, giving her a thumbs up as his cheeks flushed a darker shade of red. "Please go out with me! I will protect you with my life!" Saburo felt his jaw drop. What in the bloody HELL? This was the second guy in two weeks to hit on his teammate. Narumi! The kami-blessed tomboy, and dobe of their class! Sasuke was apparently equally shocked. Narumi turned bright red, squeaked, and ducked behind Saburo. Lee grinned even more brightly, and Saburo could have sworn he saw the other boys teeth sparkle. "Ah! You are shy! How wonderfully youthful of you!" Narumi poked her head out around Saburo's shoulder, and glared at the other boy in embarrassment, her face still quite red. "I'm not shy! And I can protect myself, 'ttebayo!" Half retreating, she mumbled quietly. "Anyway, I can't go out with you. I have somebody else that I like." Lee looked devastated, dropping his head morosely, and moving to brace himself against the wall with one hand in a pose of utter dejection.

Saburo lifted his eyes to Sasuke, hoping for rescue. This was incredibly awkward, and yet he felt that moving away and exposing the kunoichi would be some sort of betrayal of his besieged teammate. Lee's teammates were walking up behind Sasuke, looking considerably more calm than their love-struck comrade. The Hyuuga called out to Sasuke, catching the attention of the other five genin easily. "Oi, you there." Sasuke turned towards her, eyes cool. The Hyuuga's eyes hardened slightly, and she braced a hand on her hip. "Identify yourself." Sasuke turned fully towards her, tucking his hands into his pockets. "You're supposed to identify yourself before demanding such information from others." The Hyuuga's voice took on a slightly disdainful tone. "You're a rookie, are you not? How old are you?" Sasuke stared at her. "I'm not obligated to answer that." Saburo quirked his lips into a grin. _'You tell 'em Sasuke! Don't let them push you around!'_ The Hyuuga glared at him, clearly angered. "What was that?" The chinese boy chuckled and shook his head. Sasuke snorted, and turned to walk back towards Saburo and Narumi, ignoring the depressed Lee.

Saburo smiled, looking back and forth between his two teammates. "Well then, Sasuke, Narumi-chan, let's get going!" Narumi looked up at him, loosing the last of her blush, and nodded eagerly. She grabbed both of their hands, and started off down the hall, grinning brightly as they headed towards the stairwell that would take them to the third floor. They could all feel the eyes boring into their backs, but neither of the others reacted, so neither did Saburo. Sasuke scowled halfheartedly at the bouncy blonde. "Don't pull." The girl laughed brightly, darting through the door that led outside and onto the staircase to the third floor, still pulling the two of them behind her. "Don't be so stiff, Sasuke-teme!" She didn't release them until they had entered the large room used for taijutsu spars. One side of it was open, lined with columns, but otherwise left open to the outside. Beyond those columns were the outside stairs that wound around the outside of the building to lead to the the third floor. The three of them padded quietly across the smooth hardwood, heading towards the fresh light of the outside.

Before they could reach the first pillar, Lee's voice called out firmly. "You there, with the sharp eyes. Wait." The three of them stopped, and turned back in surprise. Saburo blinked uncertainly. Then he looked up. Lee was standing on the second level balcony that overlooked the actual training floor, staring down at them intensely. He tilted his head back, squinting up at the other boy in confusion, and scratching his cheek with one finger in an unconscious habit. Sasuke replied to him in a bored tone. "What do you want?" Lee stared down at him, his large round eyes intense. "Will you fight me? Right here and now?" Sasuke narrowed his eyes slightly. "Here and now?" The other boy nodded once, and leapt down to the training floor. He jerked his thumb at his own chest, eyes locked on Sasuke. "My name is Rock Lee." Saburo only had to wonder for a moment why he was introducing himself for a second time. The other boy pointed at Sasuke. "You're supposed to identify yourself before asking for another's name, right? Sasuke Uchiha." Sasuke's eyebrows rose slightly. "So you know my name already."

The other boy settled back into a taijutsu stance, still as intent as before. "I would like to fight you. I want to see how my own skills will measure up against a descendant of the genius ninja clan." He hesitated slightly, and then cleared his throat and continued as his eyes slid to Narumi. "Also..." Narumi stiffened slightly, eyes widening. A blush colored Lee's cheeks again. "Narumi-san...I like you." Narumi squeaked again, and Saburo snorted once. She glared at him and hissed "It's not funny!" Lee continued, apparently not noticing the reaction he was causing. "You're an angel!" With a swift gesture, he blew her a kiss. Narumi yelped and dodged the gesture, shooting behind Saburo again. Lee exclaimed in an admiring voice. "Your skills are admirable, Narumi-san! But how about this?" Several more kisses floated towards her like little hearts. Saburo paled. _'Oh HELL no!'_ Quickly, he shot away from his position in front of his teammate, and threw himself out of the line of fire. "I am SO not in this!" Narumi yelped, and swayed to the side, throwing herself to the floor as the signs of affection floated over her head. After they were past, she shot back and skidded behind one of the pillars, peeking cautiously out from around it.

Sasuke rolled his eyes, and turned his attention back to the other boy. "So you're challenging me knowing that I'm an Uchiha? I'm sorry to say this, but you're ignorant. Do you really want to see what an Uchiha is capable of, bushy-brows?" An excited grin pulled the corner of Lee's mouth up as his attention focused on Sasuke and he settled back into his stance. "Please." Then his face took on a neutral expression and he met Sasuke's gaze evenly. "But let me warn you, I do not think you will win. Because right now, I am the strongest of Konoha's genin." Sasuke's eyes narrowed, and Saburo cut his eyes back and forth between the two, remembering how easily the odd looking boy had stopped Sasuke's kick. Sasuke smirked. "Interesting. I'll accept the fight." Saburo blinked, and glanced up at the clock set on the wall. He sucked in a sharp breath, and turned to Sasuke. "Sasuke, don't. We have less than thirty minutes to get to the exam." Sasuke didn't even look at him. "Don't worry so much. This won't take more than five minutes." Then he charged Lee.

Saburo whipped his head around to follow his teammate with his eyes, and hoped he was right. Sasuke punched at Lee's head, but the other boy vanished, leaving Sasuke's fist shooting through empty air as Lee appeared in the air behind him, whipping his body into a round house kick. Sasuke gritted his teeth, and pivoted to meet him as the other boy let out a cry. "Konoha whirlwind!" With a swift movement, the Uchiha dropped beneath the arch of his opponents leg, crouching on the floor as Lee shot by overhead. As the other boy landed, he immediately swung his legs around in a scything motion towards Sasuke, still moving at incredible speed. Sasuke was unable to dodge, and brought his arms up into a guard. However, Lee's foot shot by his guard, and connected solidly with his cheek. Saburo's eyes widened, and he took half a step forward. "Oi, Sasuke!" The Uchiha flew threw the air, and hit the ground hard, skidding to a halt on his side near the pillar Narumi was still standing beside. Lee straightened from his crouch, as the darker boy levered himself back to his feet.

Saburo watched them with wide eyes. _'Sasuke guarded against that attack for sure. I saw it with my own eyes. So how...?'_ Turning, the rosette fixed his eyes on the odd older boy. _'He strong. Even stronger than I realized.' _Sasuke glared at Lee from behind his bangs, his pupils dilated with anger. "What was that, a ninjutsu? Or a genjutsu?" Sasuke turned back to face the boy fully again, his voice slightly harder as he smirked again. "Oh well. Whatever. I'll just use this fight to get accustomed to my new abilities." Saburo blinked as Sasuke's eyes turned red, two black tomoe swirling around his pupils. He sucked in a sharp breath. He'd gotten a glimpse of this back at the bridge in Nami no Kuni, and he'd heard that it was how Sasuke had beaten Haku. So he knew that Sasuke had awakened his Kekkei Genkai. But still, this was the first time he'd seen it so clearly. Saburo felt a grin spread across his face. _'Sasuke really is cool. If he has the same Kekkei Genkai as Kakashi-sensei, he can see through bushy brows techniques! Yeah, Sasuke definitely won't lose to some strange guy like this!' _ Sasuke sprang towards his opponent, and Saburo watched expectantly. Only to see Sasuke fly up into the air, as Lee powered a foot up into his chin, throwing his head back as his body wrenched away from the ground.

Saburo's eyes widened in shock. How...? _'The sharingan...then that means...'_ Lee moved back, eyes never leaving Sasuke's form. "That's right. My moves are neither ninjutsu nor genjutsu." Running forward, he didn't give Sasuke time to catch his breath. As the younger boy landed, he engaged him in a swift taijutsu battle, lashing out with arms and legs at a pace that Sasuke was obviously laboring to keep up with. Saburo stared in shock. "S-Sasuke!" Lee suddenly broke through the Uchiha's guard and slammed his elbow into Sasuke's solar plexus, knocking the breath out of him, and causing him to retreat a few steps. Lee's voice remained even as he watched the darker boy. "I use only taijutsu." Vanishing, he reappeared behind his opponent. "Sasuke-kun, you may not be able to believe it right away but..." Sasuke glared at him, cursed, and swung his body into a vicious back fist, causing the other boy to leap away. "Damn it!" Lee did not seem at all put off by this. "I hear that sharingan has the ability to see through gen-,tai-, and ninjutsu. And I see that you can definitely see through and deal with gen-, and ninjutsu. But for taijutsu, it's a little different." Sasuke began to look slightly uncertain. "What do you mean?" Lee shrugged one shoulder slightly. "Even if you can see y movement with your Sharingan, your body does not have the speed to keep up with mine. If you can't keep up with your body, keeping up with your eyes is pointless."

Sasuke glared furiously at the other boy. Lee lowered his brows, gaze intensifying further. "Did you know that among the strong shinobi, there are genius types, and hard-working types? You are a genius type with the blood of the Uchiha..." Sasuke growled and charged the other boy recklessly. Lee's voice remained cool as he finished his sentence. "I am a hard-working type that continually perfects my taijutsu." Sasuke tried to punch him, but Lee simply dodged it, and sent him flying up into the air with another kick. Behind him, Saburo heard Narumi cry out sharply. "Oi, teme!" Lee shot into the air after Sasuke, and seemed to float behind him, bandages unwrapping to swirl and float around the two of them.

Before he could take any action however, a pinwheel suddenly flew out of nowhere and pinned the edge of Lee's bandage to the wall. Saburo snapped his head around to stare in the direction the pinwheel had come from. There squatted a large red and yellow...turtle. A turtle with a hitae-ate of Konoha tied around it's neck. It opened its mouth, and much to Saburo's shock, it spoke. "Stop right there, Lee." Lee suddenly pulled away from his place behind Sasuke, somersaulting through the air to land in a respectful crouch in front of the turtle. Saburo ignored him, dashing towards sasuke, and leaping desperately at the last moment to safely catch his teammate and drag his arm over his shoulders. The added weight had them landing much harder than Saburo was used to, and he lost his balance, stumbling backwards and causing them both to crash into the wall painfully. Narumi hissed, and ran over to the two of them.

She and Saburo helped their dark teammate to his feet, and then the three of them looked back to the boy half kneeling in front of the turtle, eyes cast down. Saburo looked back to Sasuke, who was glaring ferociously at the other boys back. "Are you okay, Sasuke?" The Uchiha didn't answer, his cheek slowly discoloring as a large bruise began to blossom on his pale skin. Saburo stared at his idol, eyes wide. _'This guy...Sasuke is upset. He couldn't even fall properly just now.'_ Lee was apparently fixated on the turtle in front of him, and his voice wavered slightly. "You were watching?" The turtle spoke again, it's voice rough and scolding. "Lee, that move is forbidden." Lee flinched and dropped his head. "I'm sorry, I got carried away..."

Narumi's voice suddenly caught Saburo's attention. "What...is that turtle?" He looked up at his teammate, who was staring at the odd pair across the room from them. She blinked slowly, her face scrunching up in confusion. "He's getting scolded." Saburo and Sasuke both blinked, and looked away from the kunoichi, staring across the room at Lee. Sure enough, he was gesturing wildly, his voice pleading as he attempted to explain just what had been going on. Narumi's eyes widened suddenly, and she turned to Saburo. "Ano sa, ano sa, Saburo-kun! Does that mean turtles can be sensei too?" Saburo stared back at her, mouth opening and closing in shock. "I-I don't know..."

The turtle suddenly shouted loudly, causing the three members of team seven to jump. "You fool!" Lee flinched and hunched his shoulders. "Did you think that excuse would work? You should know very well what a serious matter it is for a shinobi to expose his moves like that." The boy nodded miserably. "Yes, sir." The turtle stared up at him, voice grave. "Are you prepared to face the consequences?" Lee dropped his head listlessly, and his answer was so soft that Saburo couldn't hear him. The turtle rolled it's eyes skyward. "Then, Gai-sensei, please take care of the rest." Saburo's eyes practically bugged out of his head as an older version of lee, appeared in a very strange pose on the turtles back. His throat worked but no sound came out. The only difference was that the new man had no bandage wraps, and wore a jounin vest over his body suit. "Ha, you kids really are in the springtime of your lives, aren't you?" On either side of him, he could see his teammates staring in much the same shocked manner as he was. Really, this was just too bizarre. Narumi managed to get her throat working well enough to yelp. "An even stranger looking person came out!"

The man winked at the dejected looking boy in front of him. "Hey, Lee." Saburo stared, mouth hanging open. "W-wow...the eyebrows...so bushy...I've never seen such a thing..." Suddenly Lee whipped around, glaring indignantly at the pink haired shinobi, and shouting angrily at him. "Hey! Don't make fun of Guy-sensei!" Saburo threw up his hands in exasperation. "The hell I won't! How the heck are we supposed to react with all this weird stuff coming up?" Lee screeched back at him irately, his voice climbing into a different pitch. "What did you say...?" Gai waved his hand at Lee. "Oi, Lee, stop it." The boy looked back over his shoulder at his teacher, and then turned back to him. "Yes, sir!" Suddenly Gai pulled back his hand, and punched the boy square across the face, knocking him to the ground with a shout. "You idiot!" Saburo's jaw dropped again and his eyes bugged out of his head. Sasuke was having a similar reaction, and Narumi was staring in blank shock and horror.

The man walked over to his mini-self, and knelt over him as the boy pushed himself up into a crouch. "Lee you...you..." Lee looked up at him with wide eyes. "Sensei..." Suddenly tears began streaming down both their faces. Suddenly the boy threw himself at his sensei, wrapping his arms around his shoulders in a tight hug and wailing. "Sensei!" The larger man wrapped an arm around his student. "Lee!" Saburo felt something fry in his brain. Narumi seemed beyond help, one eyebrow twitching slightly as her jaw threatened to dislocate. Sasuke was staring at the two of them with a very, very strained face. "I lost to that guy..." After a long minute, Narumi cleared her throat uncertainly. "Well...maybe that kind of situation isn't so bad..." Saburo whipped his head around to stare at her, then grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her slightly, his expression desperate. "No Narumi-chan! Don't think like that! It's dangerous! Too dangerous! You'll be sucked in!"

Lee and Gai stood up, tears still streaming down their faces, and Gai laid a hand on Lee's shoulder. "It's okay Lee. It's normal to make mistakes while you're young." Lee looked up at him with an adoring gaze. "Sensei is so kind!" Turning, Gai pointed towards the open ground beyond the pillars separating the training hall from the outside. "Now, run one hundred laps at the training ground into the sunset!" Lee tensed, a look of determination coming over his face. "Yes, Sensei!" Saburo stuttered as the two of them scrubbed away their tears and started outside. "O-oi! Hang on a second! We weren't finished talking!" Narumi nodded emphatically, her blue eyes wide. "What are you going to do about the Chuunin exams? There isn't any time left to be running one hundred laps!" Gai stopped, and turned back, resting a hand on his head sheepishly. "Wha-? Oh, yeah..." Coughing into a fist, he braced his hands on his hips, and looked seriously down at his student. "Lee, I'm going to punish you for fighting and for breaking a promise after the Exams, okay?" Lee saluted seriously. "Yes, sir!" The man struck yet another odd pose, and his voice climbed a into a higher range. "Do five hundred laps!"

Lee replied sharply, without breaking his salute. "Yes, Sensei!"

Team seven stared at them blankly for a long moment. Then Saburo muttered disbelievingly under his breath. "They're idiots..." Suddenly, Gai looked up at the three of them. Saburo jerked, recoiling slightly. "He's looking our way!" Suddenly the jounin called out to them in a fairly normal voice. "You three, is Kakashi doing well?" Sasuke was the one to answer, his voice returning to its normal tone. "You know Kakashi-sensei?" The man chuckled, lifting one hand to his chin. "I don't just know him, people call us eternal rivals." Saburo and Narumi replied in unison, both with incredulous expressions on their faces. "That sounds so fake!" The man smiled slightly, and suddenly vanished, re-appearing behind the three of them before Saburo even registered that he was gone. "The record stands at fifty wins and forty-nine losses." Saburo tensed, and the three of them whirled to face him, eyes wide. Saburo stared up at the man in shock. "W-when did he...?" The man grinned down at them, one eye sliding closed. "Let me just tell you that I'm stronger than Kakashi." Saburo stared up at the man, brows lowering. From behind them, Lee called out enthusiastically. "How's that? Gai-sensei is amazing, isn't he?" The jounin gave them the thumbs up, and his eyes turned to Sasuke. "Lee caused you trouble, but please forgive him." Turning to Saburo and Narumi, he smiled a bit more softly. "Lee and the three of you should hurry and get to the classroom." Lee was re-wrapping his hand when Saburo glanced back, and he was surprised to find Narumi staring intently at him.

Gai called out in a cheerful tone to his student. "Do your best, Lee! Farewell!" Lee nodded his head once. "Yes, sir!" With a puff of smoke, both Gai and the turtle flashed away. Lee finished wrapping his hand, and turned to the three of them. "Sasuke-kun." Saburo turned back to Lee at the same time as Sasuke, all three of them focusing their attention on him. "Let me say this before I go. To be honest, I came here to test my skills. But I lied before. The strongest of the Konoha genin is on my team. I entered the exams to defeat her. And you are one of my targets as well." Sasuke glared at the other boy, and Lee inclined his head once. "Prepare yourself for the exams!" With that, he launched himself up onto the balcony, and leapt lightly away. Saburo relaxed a bit, and looked uncertainly towards his dark teammate. Sasuke clenched his fists tightly, glaring after Lee. Then he looked away.

Saburo watched him quietly. "Sasuke..." Narumi laced her hands behind her head, watching Sasuke out of the corner of her eyes. "You lost pretty bad there, Sasuke-teme." Saburo turned to her, voice scolding. "Narumi!" Sasuke glared at her, gritting his teeth. "Next time, next time I'll slaughter him!" The blond watched him for a minute, then looked down, her expression uncharacteristically serious. "You saw his hands, right?" Saburo stared at her, puzzled. "That bushy brows, he must have trained a lot, every day. He trains more than you. That's all there is to it." Saburo stared uncertainly between Sasuke's frustrated anger, and Narumi's cool acceptance. This was almost a complete role reversal.

Suddenly, Sasuke turned away and chuckled. "this is getting interesting...the chuunin exams, that is." Narumi grinned. "Yeah!" Saburo nodded, a relieved smile spreading across his face. "Yes." Sasuke started forward, his voice cheerful. "Let's go, Narumi. Saburo." Narumi whooped, punching the air in excitement. "Alright!" Saburo shook his head quietly, and followed his teammates out onto the stairs that would lead them to the third floor, and the chuunin exams. It was time they got moving.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **_Hi guys. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. It was mainly character introduction, and set up for the actual exams, but I tried to make sure it wasn't too slow paced._

_First off, I'd like to thank Legionary Prime, and 10-iz4 for their reviews. It was lovely to hear from both of you. In answer to Legionary Prime's question, I didn't include the name of the bridge, because in the anime, Tazuna decided the name as they were leaving, without telling them about it. But I had decided what it would be. While Sasuke did do more this time around than he did in Cannon, it was more because Haku decided he needed a swift kick in the rear than anything else. Tazuna ends up naming the bridge after Narumi, though it's called "The Great Uzumaki Bridge" after her last name. The reason being, Narumi was the one to pull Inari and through him the entire village, out of their depression, and give them back their hope and courage. Plus, even though she took a lot of wounds, when the mercenaries showed up, she was raring to fight them, and completely disregarded her own physical condition in her desire to protect her team, and the bridge. Tazuna admires that kind of indomitable spirit. _

_As for this chapter. Since there seemed to be several people concerned with the romance aspect, I've decided to start adding in a few crushes here and there. Keep in mind though, these are only crushes, and most of them will probably be grown out of. For example, Narumi technically has a crush on Saburo, but as I'm sure you've noticed, she hardly ever thinks about it anymore, as she's much more focused on getting stronger. Saburo himself is not romantically attracted to Narumi in any way. His protectiveness is due to two things. First, she's his teammate, and even though she's stronger than him, Kakashi pound protective instinct into all his students. Second, she's a girl, and Saburo is at heart, a very kind and gallant boy, who was brought up to respect women. This applies not only to young pretty kunoichi, but to all women he encounters. You can see this in his interaction with Moegi. __Sasuke and Narumi still have a pretty intense rivalry, and Sasuke does not particularly care that she is a girl. If he ever does stop to think in depth about the fact that they're of different genders, it's more with a sense of relief that she isn't one of his fangirls. And she is one of the few girls who never shows even a slight romantic or physical attraction to Sasuke. _

_Also, since Sakura is now Saburo, I switched Rock Lee's crush to being directed at Narumi. The reason Narumi reacts the way she does, both to him, and to Teruyoshi, is for the same reason she blushed with Haku. No guy has ever really expressed interest in her that way before, and she doesn't know how to deal with it. She does try to let him down easily in her own way though, saying she likes someone else. She's thinking of Saburo when she says that, but it was more of a last minute thing that occurred to her rather than a declaration of affection for him. At this point, she and Saburo really have more of a brother-sister relationship, and they like it that way. Narumi does respect Lee a lot though, having to train very hard herself to keep up with Sasuke. However, at this point, her romantic affections are largely unattached. In fact, I think she'd be pretty confused as to what was going on if she actually did fall in love at this point._

_Please read and review! I look forward to hearing from you guys._


	8. The Forest of Death

Narumi stood to the far left of her two teammates, cocking her head in slight confusion. The three of them were standing in the hall just in front of room 301, and Kakashi-sensei stood between them and the wide double doors. His lone onyx eye was fixed on them, and his face was calmly serious. But Narumi could clearly smell a combination of anxiety, relief, and pride infusing his scent. Absently she reflected that Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke-teme would both probably throw fits if they had any idea how much their scents told her about them. "I see. So Saburo came as well." Narumi furrowed her brows, and cut her eyes towards her green eyed teammate. Kakashi continued in a grave voice. "You can now officially register for and enter the Chuunin exams." Saburo spoke up suddenly, his voice taking on a slight edge. "What do you mean?" Kakashi tilted his head back slightly, voice calm. "To tell you the truth, this exam can only be taken in teams of three." Narumi wrinkled her nose, confusion deepening as Saburo's scent suddenly spiked with guilt. "B-but Sensei! You said that we could decide if we wanted to take it or not..." The jounin shrugged unrepentantly. "Yeah, I did." Saburo shifted uncertainly. "You lied?" Kakashi shifted his gaze slowly away from them. "That's right. If I had told you the truth, you would have been pressured into taking the exams for Sasuke and Narumi. Even if you didn't want to do it, Saburo-kun, you would have still felt obligated to do so for the sake of your teammates." Kakashi's dark gaze shifted back to the three of them, serious and heavy. Narumi scowled at him, not at all pleased by the deception, whatever the reason.

Saburo lifted his face, and voiced a question. "So...what would have happened if Sasuke and Narumi-chan came here alone?" Kakashi straightened a bit from his usual slouch. "I would have prohibited them from taking the exams, and turned them away from the door." Then he shrugged, his voice lightening. "But, the three of you came here of your own free will. So it's not an issue." His eye fixed on each of them individually as he called their names. "Saburo. Narumi. Sasuke." Narumi pulled her shoulders back, tossing her braid over her shoulder, a determined grin splitting her face. Kakashi looked at them for a long moment, and then his eye curved up in a warm smile. "Well done. I'm proud of the three of you." Stepping to the side, he left the path to the doors clear. "Now get going."

Sasuke and Saburo moved first, striding up to the doors, the Uchiha more eagerly than the rosette. Each of them reached out to grab a door handle, and exchanged glances, before looking back at her. Narumi whooped, and stepped up between them. "Alright, lets go!" With that they pushed the doors open, and the three of them walked in, shoulder to shoulder. As they moved into the room, the doors swung closed behind them. To one side of her, Saburo set his shoulders slightly, the tension in him noticeable only to someone who knew him as well as his teammates. On the other side, Sasuke's eyes narrowed further, and his smirk morphed into a tight-lipped scowl. The room in front of them was packed with shinobi, fully half of them having twisted around to take a good look at the newcomers. Most were a good bit older than he and his team, and they practically oozed hostility to the younger genin. Absently, Narumi wondered if there might be something wrong with her, as the tense atmosphere only made her feel excited. Beside her, Saburo sucked in a sharp breath, murmuring softly to the two of them. "There's so many. Are they all taking the exams?"

The older shinobi turned away disinterestedly after a moment, and Narumi glanced at her teammates, restless. Sasuke returned her look, and opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, an amused voice beat him to it. "Oi, you guys are late!" Inori Yamanaka slipped by the Uchiha, and threw an arm around Narumi's shoulders, grinning fiendishly at the three of them. Narumi yelped and stiffened, reaching up to catch his wrist in one hand, and half twisting to glare at him indignantly. This guy was annoying, a flirt who was both Saburo's best friend and rival from the Academy. The Yamanaka turned his gaze on Saburo, and winked at his friend. "Yo, Saburo! I've been looking forward to seeing you again ever since I heard you were entering the exams! So have you gotten any stronger?" Saburo glared at his rival furiously. "Of course I have, Inori-baka! And stop hanging on Narumi-chan, you're making her uncomfortable!" The golden blonde suddenly found herself the center of attention for all three boys, and narrowed her eyes, flushing slightly in embarrassment as she glared at the other genin. Inori blinked and looked back and forth between Narumi and Saburo. Then a wicked glint appeared in his eye, and his grin widened, turning sly. "But Saburo, Narumi_-chan_ is just so adorable! How could I resist her?" Tightening his grip on her shoulders, the Yamanaka pulled the slender girl in closer to his chest, turning his head to rest his forehead against her hair, eyes sliding closed as a patented charming smile slid across his face. "Ah...you're so lucky Saburo, to be on a team with such a cute girl."

Narumi's eyes widened, and she released the Yamanka's wrist to brace her forearm crosswise against his chest, doing her best to maintain distance between their bodies. Behind her she could hear Saburo spluttering indignantly. "Wha...that tomboy?" Before he could say more, a vein in Narumi's temple started to pulse with anger. Enough was enough, and she was quite tired of Inori's more flowery attentions. Narrowing her eyes, she growled slightly in warning. When the boys made as if to continue talking over her head, she moved. Without warning, she delivered a punishing uppercut directly to the Yamanaka's stomach, driving her fist into his abdomen with a faint sense of satisfaction. Inori's eyes promptly shot open with a pained "Oomph!" and he released her, staggering back a pace and flinching as his arm instinctively wrapped around his lower torso. Narumi shook her fist at him irately, determined to prove her point. "Oi, stay away from me, weirdo!" A voice that was cool almost to the point of boredom suddenly rang out. "Don't mind it, Narumi. Inori-kun is always troublesome like that." Narumi brightened and turned towards the voice, and the two accompanying scents. "Shika!" Then she blinked in surprise. It was Shika Nara alright, but she looked different than she had in the Academy, when the two of them had often skipped flower-arranging class together. Now the other kunoichi wore a dark olive-green turtle-necked dress that was form fitting, and stopped mid-thigh. It was slit up the sides of her legs, and beneath it she wore a short-sleeved, skin tight shirt of light gray, and bandages wrapped around both legs that reached a bit further down her leg than her dress. Her hair was still pulled back in the same shaggy ponytail, and her hitae-ate was still tied around her arm, but otherwise, her appearance had become much more feminine. Narumi cocked her head in confusion, a wide grin spreading across her face as she chortled. "Shika, you're wearing a dress?" The Nara shrugged, looking vaguely disgruntled. "Ma. Inori-kun wouldn't stop nagging me until I let him get me new clothes. It was troublesome." Inori had recovered his breath at this point, and sauntered over to drape his arm around Shika's shoulders, apparently not bothered by Narumi's punch as he winked cheekily at her before turning to his teammate with an injured look. "Mou, there's no need to be so cruel, Shika-chan! I just wanted you to look beautiful and sexy like a proper kunoichi!" Shika gave him a long look, before letting her eyes slide closed with a sigh. "Troublesome." Narumi threw back her head and laughed out loud, vastly amused by the whole situation. "Ah, poor Shika-chan." The other girl slid one eye open to stare at Narumi with a vaguely irate look as her second teammate, Choji Akimichi, walked up next to her munching on a bag of potato chips. With a smooth movement, she shrugged off Inori's arm, and moved to the other side of Choji. "Ch. Whatever. So, are you three taking the exams as well?" Narumi bounced on her heels, her excitement returning at the reminder of their purpose here. "Yep, sure are!"

Another excited whoop rang out, and yet another team walked up to them. Kira Inuzuka was in the lead, closely followed by her teammates Shinako Aburame, and Hirohito Hyuuga. Shinkao was the tallest of the three, but she seemed content to walk slightly behind Kira as second in command. Hirohito quietly followed after his female teammates, eyes flickering between Kira and Narumi as he flushed slightly. Narumi ignored him. Hirohito was a bit odd, always turning red and mumbling under his breath around girls. Kira grinned at the other genin, her fangs flashing subtly as she tilted her head to brush her cheek against the top of her companion pups head as he lay across her shoulder. "Yo! Everybody's here!" Shinako inclined her head silently, and Hirohito murmured a polite hello. Shika eyed the three of them, brows drawing down into a half-annoyed frown. "What? So you three made it too? Geez..." Kira chuckled, husky voiced with excitement. "Looks like all nine rookie genin are going to take the exams this year!" Narumi grinned at the others, bracing her hands on her hips as she and the Inuzuka exchanged pleased chortles. The other girl was the only one among their age group whose senses were on par with Narumi's own, and she was always fun to rough-house with. Then Kira turned her gaze to Sasuke, her slit pupiled eyes narrowing, voice taking on a challenging edge. "Ne, how far do you think we can make it, Sasuke-kun?" Narumi had to stifle her amusement at the slightly mocking tone the other girl had placed on the suffix. Sasuke frowned at the bold girl, and Narumi wasn't surprised to note the aggression in his scent. He and Kira had never gotten along. He smirked at the Kira, replying smoothly. "You certainly seem confident, so why ask?"

The girl braced a hand on her hip cockily. "We trained like hell. We'll beat anyone who stands in our way!" Narumi bristled beside her teammate, glaring at Kira. Academy friends or not, she wasn't about to take that lying down. "Oi, dog-breath! We are definitely not losing to you!" Hirohito stepped forward, his hands coming up placatingly as he looked back and forth between the two hot-tempered girls, his voice soft and calming. "Maa, Narumi-chan, I'm sure Kira-chan didn't mean it that way..." Choji suddenly fixed his eyes on Akamaru, Kira's companion pup, and started forward. Before Narumi could wonder what he was up to, Shinako suddenly glided forward to stand in front of him, halting his progress. Choji frowned up at the tall girl. "What is it?" She tilted her head down silently, and both Choji and Sasuke followed her gaze. Scuttling away from Choji's foot was a tiny black inset. Suddenly the girl went to one knee, holding out her finger and letting the bug crawl up onto it. When she spoke, her voice was quiet and melodic. "Don't step on it." Choji stared at her, his face twisting into an expression of confusion as she stood. "Wha-?" She looked back up at the other genin. "I said don't step on it." Choji blinked at her, looking vaguely disgusted and shocked. "You're going to eat it?" There was a long silence, and Narumi stared blankly at the short, plump boy. She was pretty sure that Shinako didn't eat bugs. After all, the list of foods Ikuye-sensei said made you grow taller definitely did NOT include bugs, and Shinako was the tallest girl from their class back at the Academy.

Before anything else could be said, an older shinobi approached them. "Hey, you guys." The nine of them looked up in surprise. The speaker had soft gray hair pulled back at the base of his skull, large round glasses, and wore a high necked purple tunic and pants over a white shirt. His hitae-ate marked him as a genin of Konoha. Narumi stared at him hard, vaguely disturbed. For some reason, this guy gave her a bad feeling. As the older genin approached them with a serious face, she shook herself, shoving the feeling away, scolding herself for being foolish. The subject of her fleeting unease spoke up as he approached, voice stern. "You should quiet down a bit. You're the rookie nine, right?" He frowned down at them. "Goofing around when you're fresh out of the Academy...geez, this isn't a field trip." Inori stepped forward, glaring at the pale shinobi. "Who are you to tell us that?" He straightened, a small smile quirking at one corner of his mouth. "I am Yakushi Kabuto. Look around you." Narumi cocked her head, and looked around the room, taking a deep breath in through her nose as she did. While they were no longer being openly stared at, they were being covertly observed by quite a few shinobi, and most all of them smelled strongly of hostility. It made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

Kabuto's voice was grave when he spoke again. "The ones just behind you are from Amegakure. They have a short temper." Shrugging he, regarded them seriously. "Everyone here is very tense, since it's right before the exam. Do you want to be singled out?" The others grunted, and turned back to Kabuto. He shrugged slightly, and smiled down at them. "I guess it can't be helped. After all, you can't be expected to know anything when you're just rookies." Saburo eyed him uncertainly. "Kabuto-san, wasn't it?" Kabuto nodded. "That's right." The rosette fixed him with an inquisitive stare. "Is this your second time then?" Kabuto's smile broadened slightly, voice amused. "No. It's my seventh time." Kabuto shrugged. "The exams are only held about twice every year. This is my fourth year, and my first time this year. Seven times." Saburo shook himself slightly, staring hard at Kabuto. "Then that means you know a lot about the exam, right?" Kabuto inclined his head. Saburo grinned broadly. Shika seemed less impressed, eyeing the older genin with an expression that was something like pity. "But he hasn't passed." Narumi stifled a snort. Awkwardly, the older genin adjusted his glasses. "Yeah, that's right." Shika fixed a stare on him, her brows drawing together. "Are the chuunin exams really all that hard? Mou, this is going to be so troublesome."

Kabuto shrugged. "Well, in that case maybe I should give my cute kouhai some information." With a smooth motion, he brought a deck of cards from his pocket. "These cards have information burned into them using my chakra. Kneeling down, he placed the deck on the floor in front of him. "I've been gathering information about the exams for the past four years. I have about two hundred cards total." Reaching out, he flipped the top card over, and placed his index finger on it, spinning it as he channeled chakra into it. "By channeling my chakra into the card, I can make the information appear. Without me, the deck looks entirely blank." With a sudden soft explosion of smoke, a map appeared on the card, with three dimensional columns coming out of each country. "This shows the total number of examinees from each country." Kabuto adjusted his glasses, and Narumi shifted, her discomfort coming forcefully back to the surface for a moment. "I have both general information such as this, and also information cards on each individual examinee." Narumi was surprised when Sasuke stepped forward, his jaw set. "How good is that information?" Kabuto shifted his gaze to the younger boy. "Very. Is there someone that interests you?" Sasuke nodded once, voice firm. "Gaara of Sunagakure, and Rock Lee of Konohagakure."

Kabuto didn't even twitch, pulling two cards from his deck and laying them out in front of the nine rookies. Narumi looked back and forth between Sasuke and the older genin, furrowing her brow. She didn't like this. Didn't like it at all. But Sasuke-teme looked a bit odd, so she decided not to bother him, folding her arms across her chest and glaring down at the cards. "Rock Lee, member of team ten along with Nobuye Hyuuga, and Tenma Xiao under Maito Gai. A strong taijutsu user a year older than you, his ninjutsu and genjutsu are atrocious. This will be his first time taking the exams." With a quick movement, Kabuto flipped the card back into the pile, and turned to the other. "Saabaku no Gaara. He's had eight c-rank missions, and one b-rank. However, he is a foreign shinobi and this is his first time in the exams as well. So I have no further information on him." With a shrug, he reshuffled his pile, looking up at them as Narumi scowled back. This guy might not have anything further to say on the subject of the redhead, but Narumi remembered him quite well. And what she most clearly remembered about him, was the strong scent of a predator. A predator even more dangerous than Zabuza. And there had been something else, a sharp, bitter tang that tinted his scent. She didn't recognize whatever it was, but she didn't like it. Glancing around the room, she took a deep breath to steady herself, and grinned tightly. Seemed like this was going to be fun.

An explosion of smoke suddenly burst into being at the front of the room, and a gravelly voice roared. "Quiet down, you damn punks!" Every eye swung around to focus on the smoke, and Narumi took half a step forward, narrowing her eyes as she tried to peer through the smoke. As it dispersed, a group of Chuunin in strange uniforms came into view, headed by a tall, scarred man in a trench coat who wore his Hitae-ate on a handkerchief that covered his head. "Sorry to keep you waiting. I'm the first examiner, Morino Ibiki." A menacing smile slunk across the mans harsh features. "I'll say this right off the bat, you are not allowed to fight with each other during the exams unless the examiners give you permission. Even then, you are not allowed to kill each other. Those who break these rules will fail immediately, got it?" One guy, whose Hitae-ate bore the musical note proclaiming him as a shinobi of Otogakure, scoffed. "Huh. This exam sounds soft and easy." Narumi was a bit unnerved by the way a few of the chuunin standing behind the examiner smirked back at the oto-nin, but Morino himself showed no reaction. "We will now begin the first exam." He gestured to a box beside him. "Come up here and take a number tag from the box. Sit where the number tells you to. This will be a written examination, so once you're all seated, we'll pass out the papers." Narumi's eyes widened in alarm. _'Kuso, not a written test! I'm so dead!'_

She followed Saburo-kun into line blankly, still somewhat shocked. How could this happen? They were supposed to have left tortures like this behind in the Academy. Numbly, she realized that she had reached the box, and snatched a number from it quickly. Glancing down at it, she mumbled under her breath. Four. Just her luck. Queasily, she moved back among the benches, finding seat number four, and plunking herself down. As she glanced around, she realized that she and the other eight genin she knew had somehow gotten separated from each other. She groaned and dropped her forehead onto her desk glumly. What was she going to do? The chuunin group came along passing out papers, and she lifted her head to accept hers with all the enthusiasm of a condemned criminal. After everyone had a paper, Morino struck a piece of chalk against the blackboard to get their attention. "Alright, this test in particular has a few important rules. So listen up. The exam has ten questions, each of which is worth one point. The pass-fail decision will be determined after looking at the teams total points. Of course, there is to be no cheating. Every time an examiner catches you cheating, we will deduct two points from your score. Five instances of cheating will result in your dismissal from the exam. Also, if anyone gets a zero, everyone on that persons team will fail." Narumi's eyes shot open, and she shivered. She could practically feel her teammates eyeballs burning into her spine. _'They'll kill me! Oh kami, they'll kill me!'_ Morino continued, ignoring the reaction he was getting. "The last problem is oral, and will be posed exactly forty-five minutes after the beginning of the test. Begin!"

Heads bent intently over desks, and there was a rustle of papers being flipped over. Narumi gingerly turned hers, and eyed it. The first question was a cipher. She eyed it tentatively. She wasn't always good at cracking codes, but she wasn't necessarily bad at it either. Maybe, if she gave it her best, she'd be able to manage this. Picking up her pencil, she frowned hard at the paper, slowly working through the statement, decoding it and recording the answer in the blank box next to it. It took her a full fifteen minutes to work through it, but when she was done she was fairly confident of her answer. With a quick grin, she moved on, thinking perhaps this wouldn't be so hard after all. Until she saw the next question. She paled, and swallowed hard, before moving on to the third question, hoping for something a bit easier. By the time she'd read through to the end of the paper, she was absolutely certain that the cipher had been a freak accident, and she had no chance with the rest of the questions. The sense of her teammates eyes returned, heavy on her back. She grimaced. _'No, I absolutely can't fail. I can't! Sasuke-teme would never let me live it down, and neither of them would ever forgive me!'_ Swallowing hard, she narrowed her eyes. _'I suppose...I'll just have to cheat. It's all I can do like this.'_ Looking up, she glanced sideways at the chuunin proctors lining the walls. _'But I'll have to be careful. I can't be caught.'_ Slowly, she drew in a deep breath, and tossed her braid over her shoulder. She could do this. First, she'd have to find someone who knew the correct answers, preferably someone in front of her. She took another deep breath, but this time she drew it in slowly, through her nose. The individual scents flooded over her, each rich with complex messages, some of which were too subtle or unfamiliar for her to decipher. But it wasn't difficult to identify one of the few scents that was not at all tense. She narrowed her eyes, concentrating, and pinpointed the scent to a messy haired teen from Konoha a few rows in front of her. The other genin had carefully angled his body so as to block the view of his paper from the row behind him, but from her higher position, Narumi could clearly see it. Of course, at this distance, most people wouldn't be able to read what he was writing. But Narumi had long ago realized that her senses and instincts were much sharper than her counterparts, with the single exception of the Inuzuka. While her vision was nothing like the miraculous and acclaimed dojutsu of Konoha, such as the sharingan and the byakugan, but she could easily read the test in front of her. With a foxy grin, she started to record the answers, careful to only glance up now and again, as casually as possible.

She was just moving on to the last few questions when a kunai flashed by her. She froze, instinctively tracking it's path as it buried itself in the desk of a genin behind her, piercing his test. One of the proctors smirked as the boy jerked back. "You. That's five times. You and your teammates, get out." The boy surged to his feet, mouth working in horror. His teammates hissed sharply, then gritted their teeth, and stood, glaring at their teammate as they left. Slowly, the dazed Kusa genin turned to follow them out. Narumi set her shoulders grimly. Over the next ten minutes, thirteen teams were failed. Narumi heaved a sigh of relief as she flipped her paper over without having her number called. A few of the teams who were called out tried to make trouble, but were invariably beaten into submission and dragged protesting from the exam room. Another seven teams failed after she had finished her own test, though she didn't recognize any of them. Just as the clock hit the forty five minute marker, Morino boomed at them. "I will now give the tenth question!" Narumi tightened her grip on her pencil. _'Here it comes!'_ Morino eyed them grimly, his voice deceptively calm. "However, there's a special rule for this question. First, you must all choose wether or not you wish to take the tenth question." Narumi started, sitting up straighter and staring hard at the man. All around her, the other genin were having similar reactions. Behind her a familiar voice called out sharply, and she glanced back over her shoulder in surprise. It was Teruyoshi, the dirty-blonde genin from Sunagakure. His eyes were narrowed, and he'd braced one fist on his desk as he leaned forward in his seat. "What do you mean, choose? What happens if we don't take the question?" Morino shrugged. "In that case, your points wil automatically drop to zero, and you'll be dismissed from the exams. Your teammates as well, of course. However, you'll be able to take the exams at a later date. If you take the tenth question, and fail to answer it correctly, you will lose the privilege of ever taking the chuunin exams, and remain a genin for the rest of your career. However, your teammates will be able to retake it in six months time, as usual."

Kira surged up out of her seat, thrusting a finger accusingly at the examiner. "What kind of dumb rule is that? There are already people here who have taken the exam before!" Morino chuckled. "Yes. That is why I'm giving you the choice to quit now. Those who do can always take the exams later." Narumi swallowed hard, eyes widening. Morino tilted his head down. "Well then. Those who will not be taking the tenth question, raise your hands now." Narumi shivered, mind racing as thoughts flashed swiftly through her head. _'What kind of a question will it be? If it's like the cipher, I should be fine but...if it's not I'll...but I can't just give up! I couldn't do that to Sasuke and Saburo-kun!'_ As her mental gears spun in place, the sound of a pencil dropping to the floor caught her attention. The man beside her was already middle aged, and must have been a genin for a while. He lifted his hand and stood, clenching his eyes closed. "I-I quit! I can't take this!" Turning sharply, he headed for the doors. One of the proctors waved a hand carelessly at two other examinees. "Oi, go on. You just failed with him." The two genin rose, stone faced, and followed their comrade out. As they left, an ame-nin raised his hand. "Me too! I'm not gonna stay a genin forever!" Before Narumi's eyes, more and more hands rose, and teams filed out the doors, murmuring under their breath. "Better to quit now, and have a chance next year." Narumi looked down at her paper. The guy she'd gotten her answers from had been among those who'd withdrawn. Now she had no recourse left to her to answer the tenth question aside from her own mind. She took a deep breath, and shuddered. Suddenly, she hissed and sat back in her seat, crossing her arms. She had knew both Sasuke and Saburo would be able to answer the damned thing, and she certainly wasn't going to lose to Sasuke-teme. Like hell she'd give up here. Locking eyes with Morino, she grinned, baring her teeth challengingly at him as she lifted her chin.

Morino cocked an eyebrow at her, and then swept the room. The desks were nearly empty now, but Narumi was pleased to not that none of the rookies had taken themselves out of the running. She narrowed her eyes as Morino called out. "I will ask one last time. This choice will impact the rest of your lives as shinobi, so think carefully. If you wanna quit, now's the time." Looking around, he walked forward, and tapped the desk in front of Narumi. "How about you, blondie? You really think you can handle this?" Narumi growled, and glared hotly up at the man. "You nuts? There's no way I'll ever give up! That's my nindo!" There was a long silence, and then Morino chuckled once, before sweeping the classroom again. "Nice determination, kid. Listen up! Everyone here... has just passed the first exam." Narumi stared at him blankly. Saburo surged up in his seat, somewhere in the back of the room. "Wait just a minute! What is that supposed to mean? What's the tenth question?" Morino broke out laughing, and his expression softened for the first time during the exam. "You've already answered it by choosing to stay. As a chuunin, you may have to make hard decisions like this someday. Those who left proved that they don't have the ability to make those choices. That is the tenth question." Narumi whooped, punching the air in excitement. Behind her, she could hear Inori laughing and bombarding Saburo with delighted comments and questions. Shaking his head, Morino smiled and murmured "I wish you luck."

* * *

><p>Narumi swallowed hard from her place between Sasuke and Saburo. "Waa. Do you see that?" In front of them was a forbidden area, carefully fenced off and contained by a twelve foot fence. The forest loomed intimidatingly above them, it's huge, twisted trees casting ominous shadows on the ground below. Before the fence stood the Second Examiner, Mitarashi Anko. She was a rough, wild woman, with dull purple hair, a long sandy coat slightly lighter in color than her swamp-colored eyes, and a form fitting mesh body suit under a short skirt that left nothing of her generous figure to the imagination. She smirked menacingly at them. "So, Ibiki passed twenty-six teams, did he? Hah, the first exam must have been soft. But don't worry, I'll be failing at least half of you." Narumi glared indignantly at the woman. Like she'd let herself be failed this early. The woman ignored the nervous, and indignant looks she was getting as she gestured at the tall chain-link fence behind her. "This is where the second exam will take place. Konohagakure's training ground number forty-four, more commonly known as the forest of death." Narumi swallowed hard, staring wide-eyed at the predatory grin on the Jounin's face. "Before we start, we'll be passing out waivers." She waved her hand nonchalantly at three chuunin, each of whom held a thick stack of paper slips. "Those who wish to continue with the exams must first sign the waiver."<p>

Narumi frowned, and cocked her head, puzzled. "Why do we have to do that?" Anko's smile relaxed a tad, and her voice became serious. "From here on out, people will die in these exams. Therefore, we need written consent from everyone taking them before we can continue with the second exam. Otherwise I might get in trouble." Throwing her head back, she laughed, apparently not at all disturbed at the idea of some of them dying. Narumi stared at her uncertainly. This woman was weird. Beside her Saburo murmured nervously. "She's creepy." Anko's laughter trailed off, and she cocked one hip, resting her hand on it easily and smirking at them. "Well then, shall I explain the second exam? You'd better know what you're getting yourselves in for after all. Basically, this is an extreme survival match." As she spoke, the chuunin started handing out the forms. Narumi took hers and peered down at it, still listening as Anko continued with her explanation. "Training ground forty four is a circular area with forty four gates evenly spaced around the perimeter. Inside there is, of course, the forest. A river cuts through the forest, and a tower is located in the center of the training ground. The tower is exactly ten kilometers away from each gate." Anko reached inside her coat, and Narumi looked up at the rustling, just in time to see her hold up two scrolls. One was light, and one was dark. "Once you enter the gate, anything goes. All that matters is that you get your hands on these. The scroll of heaven, and the scroll of earth. Each team will be given one scroll. Half of the twenty six teams here will have a scroll of heaven, and the other half a scroll of earth. However, you must have one of each." Sasuke spoke up from beside Narumi, frowning slightly. "What exactly is needed to pass?" Anko jerked her thumb over her shoulder. "Once you have both scrolls, bring them to the tower along with your teammates."

Saburo suddenly spoke up, frowning slightly. "In other words, the thirteen teams that get their scroll stolen will fail the exams." Anko nodded. "But the task needs to be completed before the deadline. The second exam has a time limit of one hundred and twenty hours. Exactly five days." Inori yelped indignantly. "Five days? Are you serious?" Choji looked horrified. "What about food?" Anko snorted, unimpressed. "You'll be in a forest, scrounge it up yourselves." Narumi grumbled under her breath. "So in other words, its not that thirteen teams will definitely fail. It's that thirteen teams is the absolute max amount that will be able to pass." Shika raised her hand, looking somewhat bored. "Oi, can we give up halfway?" Inori threw an arm around her with a bright grin. "Ah, come on Shika-chan! Don't be like that! I'll look after you!" Shooting a glance at Choji, the charming smile slipped from his face. "Besides, you're the shining light of our team! You can't leave me alone with just Choji." Shika snorted. "Troublesome." Anko stared at them for a moment. "No, you can't withdraw from the exams partway through. Once you sign the waiver and pass through the gates, you will spend the entire five days in the forest." Shrugging, she turned back to the group at large. "Also, these are the conditions that will result in failure. First, if a team comes to the tower lacking a scroll, or members, they will fail. Second, if a team member is killed, maimed, or otherwise permanently ruined as a shinobi, that team will also fail. Also, opening the scrolls before reaching the tower will result in immediate disqualification."

Anko pointed over to a long desk that had been set up off to the side. The three chuunin who had passed out the waivers were now sitting quietly behind it. "You can exchange your teams three waivers over there for a scroll. Then you will draw a number from the box at the far end of the table. Your team will go to the gate with the corresponding number, and wait for the gates to be opened. Everyone will be starting at the same time. We'll let you know when it's time to exchange the forms for your scrolls. Dismissed." The crowd of genin dispersed, spreading out as they read over the waivers. Some teams wandered off together, but others split up. Narumi turned to her teammates in time to see Saburo walking off one way, and Sasuke going another. Narumi looked back and forth between them, then rolled her eyes and walked up the nearest tree. She perched herself on a branch, and started to read over the form. Halfway through, she got bored, and dashed off her name on the dotted line at the bottom of the paper. Once that was taken care of, she kicked her feet, enjoying the warm day. Absently, she glanced over the open ground in front of her. The chuunin were setting up a curtain in front of the desk. She supposed that must be so that no one knew who had what scroll. It certainly seemed like they wanted to fail as many genin as possible, and having to fight pointless battles for a scroll you already had would do that. Most of the other genin were still reading over their forms. Narumi snorted. She didn't see why they were being so careful. They'd just been told what the thing was for, hadn't they? Her eyes lit on the three brothers from Sunagakure, and she watched them curiously. They must have also already signed their forms, because they were holding them loosely, without bothering to look at them. The red haired one with the strange scent had his back to her, and the other two appeared to be murmuring to him in low voices. Every now and then, he would tilt his head slightly, so she supposed he must be talking back. As she watched them, the eldest glanced up, and spotted her. A half smile quirked at his lips, and he winked at her. She started, and glared back at him. Leaning over, the dirty-blonde whispered in Kankuro's ear, and clapped a hand on his shoulder. Kankuro glanced over at him with a blank stare, and then rolled his eyes and shrugged off the hand. The blonde turned towards the red-head, said something with a brisk nod, and vanished in a swirl of sand.

Narumi yelped and whipped her head around as the soft hiss of sand, and a wash of scent alerted her to the presence beside her. Teruyoshi was crouched on the branch next to her, a bit closer in to the trunk than she was, with his arms draped easily over his bent knees. He tilted his chin down a bit, and lifted a hand in greeting. "Hey there. Where're Pinky and Broody?" Narumi blinked, then squinted at him suspiciously, half turning towards him. "What?" He gestured vaguely. "You know, the Uchiha and the other one. They're your teammates, aren't they?" She stiffened indignantly. "Oi! Don't call Saburo-kun and Sasuke names!" He raised an eyebrow questioningly at her, though his eyes were laughing, and his tone teasing. "I didn't. All I did was identify them by their traits." Narumi sputtered, and glared at him, unable to reply to that. After all, she'd be the first to accuse Sasuke of brooding, and Saburo-kun DID have pink hair...but still! Teruyoshi coughed slightly. "So, you've already signed your waiver?" She narrowed her eyes at him, then looked sharply away and tossed her braid over her shoulder. "Of course. Why wouldn't I?" The Suna-nin cocked his head to the side and eyed her for a moment. Sternly she repressed the urge to shift uncomfortably under his scrutiny. This guy was her enemy for the rest of the exam, and she wasn't going to show him any weakness if she could help it. "Well, wouldn't most kunoichi at least hesitate? This is going to be pretty dangerous." Narumi snorted, and looked back at him, doing her best to imitate Sasuke's patented scornful death glare. "Like hell. I'm going to be Hokage someday. Something like this won't scare me." Teruyoshi stared at her blankly for a moment. "Hokage?" She nodded sharply, crossing her arms over her chest. "Yeah! Got a problem with that?" He held up his hands, and smirked. "Easy. I was just a bit surprised is all." Narumi eyed him for a minute, then looked away with a snort. "Anyway, it's none of your business in the first place." Teruyoshi chuckled. "You know, you're fun to mess with." She jumped and squeaked indignantly, spinning so that one of her legs was still swinging, and the other was crossed across the branch in front of her as she faced him. "What the- Am not!" The boys chuckles morphed into all out laughter. "Sure you are. It's not even hard to rile you up in the first place." Narumi lifted one tightly clenched fist in front of her, staring at him hard. "You-!"

Before she could finish her sentence, Sasuke's voice interrupted her, cool and sharp. "Narumi, what are you doing? Get down here. We need to trade our waivers for the scroll." She looked down and was surprised to see both her teammates standing below her, heads tilted back as they looked up into the tree. Saburo-kun's face was tight, and his scent was indignant and suspicious. Sasuke looked as cool and relaxed as ever, but his scent was also sharper than usual. She waved at them sheepishly. "A-aa! Sorry!" Quickly, she swung around and tensed to jump down to her teammates. As she moved,Teruyoshi touched two fingers to his forehead and flicked them casually towards her. "Good luck, Beautiful." Narumi's momentum was already carrying her off the branch and down to the ground, but she shot one last scowl at him over her shoulder. Then he was gone in a swirl of sand, and she was landing lightly in front of her teammates. "I'm ready, let's go." Saburo opened his mouth as if to say something, brows furrowed, but Sasuke beat him to it. "What did the suna-nin want?" She shrugged, still irritated. "How the heck should I know? He was just asked me if I'd signed my waiver." Sasuke eyed her intently. "You didn't tell him anything about us did you? About our team or our abilities?" Narumi bristled. "'Course not, teme! I'm not stupid!" Sasuke nodded once, then turned and led the way towards the curtained off table. "Alright then, let's get a move on." Saburo still looked mutinous, but he fell into step beside her as the two of them followed after Sasuke. As they headed to the table, Narumi narrowed her eyes. _'Jerk. I bet he get's eaten by the first day.'_ Snorting, she shook her head and cleared away the distracting thoughts. Time to focus on the exams, not annoying suna-nin.

The three of them ducked behind the heavy curtain, and walked up to the desk. Sasuke turned to the two of them, and Narumi handed her waiver over with a grin. Saburo handed his over as well, and Sasuke exchanged the three of them for a heaven scroll. Narumi eyed it excitedly. Alright, now things were getting interesting! She scampered down the table to the box, and thrust her arm inside, rummaging around and grabbing a tag. She looked down at it, and then showed it to the others. "Twelve." Saburo sighed. "At least it's not four." Sasuke tucked the heaven scroll away, and the three of them emerged from behind the curtain. A few more teams, including the three brothers from Suna went after them, but most of the other teams were ready to go at this point. Five minutes later, Anko glanced at her watch, and then looked up at them. "Alright! If you have received a scroll, follow the chuunin over there." She indicated a uniformed man with bandages wrapped around his nose, mouth, and throat. "He'll lead you to your designated gates. The exam will start in thirty minutes." Narumi exchanged glances with her team, and they moved over to the man, following him along the fence as he started out.

They were the first of the shinobi they knew to reach their designated gate. The others continued on after the bandaged chuunin, while the three of them stopped beside the new chuunin who was standing guard in front of gate twelve. As the others moved on out of sight around the curve of the fence, Narumi whooped, throwing a few rapid punches and bouncing on her heels. "Yosh! We're definitely not gonna lose to anyone!" Saburo nodded once, eyes hard. "Right." Sasuke simply looked up at the forest beyond the gate, his expression tightening slightly. Narumi could tell that the others were working hard to keep themselves loose and relaxed. She herself had no such problem, and merely bounced impatiently, occasionally throwing punches in an effort to release her excess of nervous energy. Soon enough, the chuunin in front of them stepped forward, pulled out a key, and unlocked the padlock fastened tightly around the gate, pulling the chain away from it's previous place wrapped around the edge of the gate and the gatepost. Narumi sucked in a breath, dropping into a ready crouch. Beside her the others tensed as well. With a quick shove, the chuunin opened the gate, and dodged away. The three of them blasted forward into the forest, racing for the trees. Narumi whooped her excitement as they dashed in. "Let's go!" After they broke through the edge of the forest, they slowed down, taking stock of their surroundings. Narumi sniffed at the air, and noted that the scents of other humans were still a fair distance from them. As they cautiously headed deeper into the forest, they fell into a loose formation, with Narumi leading the way, Saburo just behind her and to the right, and Sasuke bringing up the rear and keeping an eye on the left flank. It wasn't long before horrified screams rang out through the forest. Instinctively, they stopped and glanced in the direction of the screams. Narumi took a deep breath, and caught a faint whiff of the coppery scent that was blood. However, she wasn't smelling enough for someone to have died of blood loss, and the screams didn't sound familiar, so she allowed her shoulders to relax. Saburo was not so easy. His jade eyes flashed across the trees, and his hands clenched into fists. "That...that was someone screaming." Sasuke grunted. Saburo glanced over at the Uchiha, before looking down at his feet. Narumi glanced between them, and then laced her fingers behind her head, grinning a bit nervously. "I-I don't think we need to worry Saburo-kun. It sounded pretty far away. And anyway, if anyone comes, we'll just beat their scroll out of them." Saburo looked up and smiled quickly. "Aa. You're right Narumi-chan."

Just then, there was a rustling in the bushes off to their right. Three heads whipped around, and fixed on the bush. There was a moment of tension, and then they all relaxed as a rabbit sprang from the bushes and dashed away. Saburo sighed, then smiled. "Oi, I'll be right back!" With that he dashed after the rabbit. Sasuke called after him suddenly, voice sharp. "Where do you think you're going?" Saburo waved. "Catching dinner! Back soon!" And then he vanished into the bushes on the other side of the clearing. Narumi pouted indignantly. "I wanted to go hunting too!" Sasuke rolled his eyes and smacked her gently on the back of her head. "Hn. Dobe." She half glared back at him, rubbing the back of her head indignantly. "Teme!" After a while, Saburo came back. He was a bit scratched up, and leaves were caught in his pink hair. He smiled sheepishly at them, scratching his cheek with one finger. "Eh heh heh. Sorry. I lost it." Narumi turned to her pink haired teammate, eyes widening in delight. "Ah! Does this mean I get to go hunting later?" The next thing she knew, Sasuke had appeared behind Saburo, and slammed his foot into the other boys cheek, sending him tumbling across the clearing to crash into a tree. Narumi let out a startled cry, instinctively moving forward to place herself between the two boys. "Teme! What the hell?" Saburo sat up, bracing himself against the trunk and scrubbing one hand grimly across his mouth. He glared in confusion at Sasuke. "Why did you-?" Sasuke dodged around Narumi, and shot across the clearing, kicking out at the rosettes head again. Saburo's eyes widened, and he ducked, rolling away to smash into a tree. Narumi yelled, taking a half step forward, uncertain how to react to this. "Teme! Stop it! Both of you quit right now, 'ttebayo!" The boys ignored her. Saburo struggled back to his feet. "What are you doing all of the sudden, Sasuke?" Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "What? That's my line." Reaching for his holster, the Uchiha drew a kunai, and shot towards the other boy. Saburo drew a kunai of his own, expression grim. "Fine." Narumi snapped. As both boys were about to meet, she used shunshin to reach them first. With a quick movement, she slammed a fist down on each boys head with a sharp cry of frustration. Sasuke managed to dodge well enough that the blow only grazed his head, but it was enough to stop him. Saburo, however, took the full blow, and slammed hard into the ground, rolling away from the two of them and springing to his feet. Sasuke glared at her, but then turned his attention to Saburo. "Dobe! Take a good look at him." She huffed, but did as Sasuke said. She didn't see anything odd, but she trusted her teammate. So she drew in a deep, slow breath threw her nose, subtly taking in Saburo's scent. Then her eyes widened, and she reached for her holster.

Saburo exclaimed loudly when he saw the movement. "Not you too, Narumi-chan! What's wrong with you two?" Sasuke snorted. "Moron. Saburo's not so pathetic as to get all scratched up from chasing a rabbit in the woods. And he's left-handed. Your holster is on your right leg." The Uchiha narrowed his eyes. "Even the Dobe here can perform Henge better than this." Narumi hissed angrily as she glared at the newly revealed impostor. "Where's Saburo-kun?" With a quick explosion of the white smoke caused by sudden dissipation of chakra, an ame-nin with a strange breathing apparatus and a bulky body suit of pale yellow appeared in Saburo's place. His mask was hissing weirdly, and Narumi could tell by the way his eyes curved that he was smirking at them. She ground her teeth irately. She hated it when people smirked at her. The ame-nin spoke, his voice distorted by his strange mask. "This is really too unlucky. I guess I have no choice though, since you found me out. Now spill it, which one of you brats has the scroll? Give it up quietly, and I'll spare your lives." With a swift movement, Narumi drew her kunai and dropped into a defensive crouch slightly behind Sasuke, guarding their flank and making sure to keep her sense open to possible danger at her back. When neither of them answered, he dropped his chin a bit. "I see. Then I have to use force!"

As the ame-nin charged them, Sasuke sprang into the air, flashing through hand signs. "Katon: Housenka no Jutsu!" With a single breath, the Uchiha sent a burst of small fireballs flying towards the enemy nin. As he dodged, Narumi sprinted forward, dodging around the last few fireballs as she headed in for an attack. As she struck with her Kunai, the ame-nin grunted, and brought his own weapon up to lock with hers. The enemy was older and stronger than her, and began to bear down with his weight. Narumi narrowed her eyes and growled, suddenly dropping back and down, catching herself on her free hand and scything her legs towards the enemy's ankles. The man chuckled and leapt up into the air. "An attack like that won't work on me!" As Narumi rolled to her feet, Sasuke shot towards the man, clashing with him high above the ground. "Narumi! I can see Saburo, go get him!" The blonde narrowed her eyes, but nodded tightly. Sasuke's eyes flashed over to a group of bushes a bit away, and Narumi caught the message, dashing towards them quickly.

Bursting through the bushes, she caught sight of Saburo, writhing furiously against his bonds. Glancing up, he gasped in relief. "Narumi-chan!" Quickly she went to him, and sliced through the ropes, wincing slightly as the tip of her kunai left a long, shallow cut along Saburo's wrist. She opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, an explosion rang out behind her. She spun as she stood, shooting up into the trees, and heading back towards the clearing where she'd last seen Sasuke. When she got there, the ame-nin was standing just behind Sasuke with a kunai to his neck. Cursing, the blonde sent her own kunai hurtling towards the exposed yellow back. The enemy sensed her weapon incoming, and shot up into the air to avoid it. Sasuke spun around and leapt after the ame-nin, his eyes the brilliant black and red of sharingan. The younger genin easily caught the older in midair, and didn't hesitate to drive his own kunai deep into the mans chest. Below her, Narumi heard Saburo draw in a sharp breath. She wanted to look down and see what was wrong, but her senses were on high alert for the enemy's other teammates, and she couldn't spare the glance. Sasuke, apparently, knew what was wrong. "Saburo! Don't freeze up! Do you want to die?" The ame-nin grunted and shoved away from Sasuke, pressing a hand to his wound and shooting back through the trees, running away. Sasuke dropped to the ground, staring after the man with a whirling sharingan, but not giving chase. Blood was spattered across his face from when he'd stabbed the other genin, and he was gritting his teeth. Narumi swept the area around them one last time, and then relaxed slightly. The strangers scent was receding quickly, and no other unfamiliar human scents were in their immediate vicinity. Straightening from her combat ready crouch, she dropped to the forest floor beside her black haired teammate. "Teme, you've got blood on your face." Sasuke snorted, and wiped his arm warmer across his face, leaving a smear of darkening red on the white of the cloth. The two of them glanced back at the slightly green Saburo. Narumi waved cheerfully. "Hey Saburo-kun! Wasn't that awesome?" Sasuke let out a breath, and beckoned their teammate over. "Come on. We have to move." Standing, he led the way out of the clearing. Narumi assumed Saburo's former position in the middle, and allowed the rosette to take up the flank.

After they'd been walking for a bit, Sasuke sat down next to the trunk of a recently fallen tree, it's trunk still sound. Ideal cover for a short rest. "Sit down you two." Narumi shrugged, and dropped cross legged to the ground. Saburo sat with a bit more dignity, folding one leg beneath him, while the other remained bent as he slung his arm around it. Sasuke eyed them, keeping his voice low as he spoke. "The incident just now is important, we should learn from it. From now on, if we get separated, we don't trust anyone, even if they look like one of us. The next time, they might not make obvious mistakes." Saburo leaned forward a bit, eyes worried. "So what do we do?" Sasuke lowered his voice a bit more. "We have a password. If anyone gives us a different password, we assume that they're an enemy, even if we're sure it's one of us. Got it?" Narumi furrowed her brow. She wasn't sure she liked this plan, but she couldn't actually find anything wrong with it. Sasuke continued, ignoring her hesitation. "If there are lots of enemies swarming about, it's a good chance you will not be able to find a quiet hideout. Therefore, it is important for Shinobi to know the proper time to strike. When the enemy is tired and has his guard down, that is the time to move." Narumi blinked owlishly at her dark-haired teammate. How did he even manage to say that once? Beside her, Saburo smiled and nodded tightly. Narumi frowned uneasily, but didn't want to appear foolish. So she just nodded. Sasuke stood up, hand going lightly to his weapons pouch. "Anyway, I'll keep the scroll." Narumi frowned up at him, not sure he should be saying that aloud. But as she stood and opened her mouth to tell him so, she heard a strange noise. Half turning, she furrowed her brow, staring into the forest towards the dull roaring. "What?" Sasuke and Saburo both turned with her, frowning between the blonde and the forest.

Suddenly, a gale of wind came roaring through the trees, and blasted into them. Narumi threw up her arms to shield her head with a sharp cry. Sasuke slitted his eyes and leaned into the wind, voice rough. "Is it another enemy?" Narumi felt the wind picking up further, and a stick carried through the air struck her across the shoulder, tearing through her jacket and gouging a bloody furrow into her flesh. She flinched and gritted her teeth, springing up and away, hoping to get out of the narrow channel of wind that was undoubtedly jutsu-born. The wind caught hold of her as she leapt, making her jacket and braid snap in the wind, and tumbling her head over heels as it carried her lighter frame further back through the forest. Eventually, her momentum broke her out of the thunderous wind stream, and she found herself somersaulting off into the trees. Muttering a curse, she twisted around, and caught hold of a thick branch, carefully using her momentum to swing around it and land on top of the thing, channeling chakra into the soles of her feet to cling to it. Breathing hard, she wiped her the back of her wrist across her mouth, and took quick stock of her injuries. With the exception of her shoulder where the twig had grazed her, she was relatively unharmed. While she was covered in numerous scrapes, bruises and smaller lacerations, only a few drops of blood had welled up onto her skin. Even the gouge had stopped bleeding. Grateful for the increased healing rate she had as Jinchuriki, she tugged at her shirt and jacket sleeve, rearranging the cloth covering her shoulder so that the wound was mostly hidden. If she wasn't careful, she'd worry Saburo-kun.

Once she was satisfied with her handy-work, she headed back along the furrow of bare earth that had been dug through the forest by the wind. Soon enough, the others came into view, and she allowed herself a sigh of relief. Both boys were scratched up, as she was, but otherwise seemed fine. She leapt down to the forest floor behind them with a wave. "Oi, guys! You okay?" The boys turned sharp eyes on her. She blinked in surprise at the guarded expression, and opened her mouth to question them. Just then, someone came crashing through the bushes on the opposite side of the clearing. Narumi stared as her own reflection, right down to the scrapes and cuts, came bursting into the clearing. "Itai... Hey guys..." The other blondes voice trailed away, and Narumi locked gazes with herself. Horrified, they both pointed at each other and shouted in chorus. "Oi, who the hell are you!" The other Narumi turned pleadingly to the boys. "Teme, Saburo-kun, what's going on?" Narumi snorted. "That's what I'd like to know." Saburo shifted closer to Sasuke, jade eyes flashing back and forth warily. "The password?" Narumi hesitated, mind blanking as her eyes widened. "I...uh...I..." Reaching up, she rubbed the back of her head sheepishly, though she felt nearly sick with horror at the situation. "Sorry, I...guess I forgot." The other Narumi brightened. "Ah, I know the password!" Cheerfully she recited the longwinded password. The boys looked at Narumi, and she flushed, throat working furiously as she desperately tried to think of a way to prove it was really her. Just how the heck did this person know their password anyway?

Saburo sighed in relief, and then glared at Narumi, reaching for his holster. Panicked she started waving her arms. "W-wait just a second here...!" Sasuke also reached for his holster, but when the Kunai came, he flung it at the impostor. Narumi felt practically giddy with relief. The other Narumi flung herself to the side, and hit the ground, glaring indignantly up at Sasuke as Saburo froze, green eyes locked on Sasuke. The Uchiha fell back into a combat stance, fully turning his back to Saburo, and consequentially, Narumi. Saburo grabbed the Uchiha's shoulder urgently, still remaining half turned toward Narumi. "Oi, Sasuke! What is wrong with you? Narumi gave us the password, so what-?" Sasuke's voice was grim. "That's what the problem is. Do you really think Narumi could memorize such a long password so quickly? If it were really Narumi, what do you think she'd say?" Saburo blinked, and then glanced back at Narumi. Sasuke didn't even turn. "Plus, the movement she used when she dodged my attack was different from Narumi's. It can't be her." Sasuke sounded both confident and annoyed when he called out. "Just show yourself, faker." Narumi let out a quiet breath, and moved forward to stand on Sasuke's other side, resuming her place in their instinctive formation.

The impostor tipped her head down, eyes narrowing, and a too-long tongue flicking out across her lips as she chuckled softly. "I see." For the second time that day, team seven was faced with the dispersal of an impostors henge. This time, it was a tall woman from Kusagakure with a lined face and thin lips. She wore a pale, sickly yellow short-sleeved dress that fell past her knees over a dark green wrist-to-ankle body suit. It was tied around her waist with a thick purple rope, and she wore a wide brimmed straw hat on her long dark hair. The woman tilted her head, smirking at them, and Narumi shivered, bristling instinctively as her nose wrinkled. She didn't like this woman. She gave her the shivers, and her scent... Gaara of Sunagakure might smell a bit too metallically sharp, but this woman smelled of snakes, and dankness, and chemicals. She didn't like that scent at all. The woman spoke in an almost mocking tone of amusement. "If you knew the girl would forget the password, why not use a shorter one?" Sasuke smirked right back. "Because I knew you were eavesdropping." The woman removed her hat, peering intently at Sasuke. "I see. You don't let your guard down." With a sly expression, the woman flicked that same, too-long tongue over her lips again, and Narumi narrowed her eyes, ignoring the chill that swept over her skin as her hand twitched towards her weapon pouch. _'What a creepy woman...'_ Gritting her teeth, Narumi allowed Sasuke to take the lead, waiting for the chance to strike. The woman dropped her hat, and reached back into her robes, pulling out an earth scroll. Narumi's eyes widened slightly, and the others sucked in sharp breaths. The woman laughed at them, her amusement cold and mocking. "You want this earth scroll, right?" Slowly, she lifted the scroll to her lips, and opened her mouth, tongue snaking out to wrap around the thing. With sickening steadiness, she pulled it into her mouth, her jaw spreading impossibly wide open as the foreign object slid past her lips, and used the heel of her hand to shove it down her throat. Narumi's instincts were ringing with alarm, and she had to fight to hold her ground and not step backwards, feeling her own gag reflex work furiously as she watched the thick earth scroll slide down the kusa-nin's throat. Saburo gasped, and made a small retching noise, and Sasuke's shoulders tensed. They all stared at the woman in shock as she swallowed it down.

The woman murmured under her breath as the obstruction in her throat disappeared into her gullet. "Now then, shall we begin?" When she looked up and transfixed them with her sharp gaze, Narumi froze. The air became thick with malice, and sakki flooded her senses, clogging her throat and constricting her chest so that she couldn't breathe properly. In her minds eye, she could clearly see the image of herself and her teammates dying, blood spurting as kunai buried themselves in their foreheads. She could practically feel the sharp agony of the kunai buying itself in her brain. Narumi's vision shifted as her pupils dilated and contracted too swiftly, her hearing becoming incredibly sensitive as her senses kicked into overdrive, adrenaline flooding her system and making her thought process become sluggish. Her body jerked and convulsed, tremors racing along her skin as the muscles beneath it spasmed, roiling and rippling unnaturally and violently. Distantly she thanked kami that she hadn't yet drawn a weapon as her body seemed intent on betraying her. Never before had she felt such intense fear because of a human.

Beside her, Saburo sagged to the ground, eyes impossibly wide. Sasuke staggered back a step, before crashing to his knees slightly behind the rosette. Both of them were breathing erratically, and trembling, pupils contracted in eyes that were impossibly wide and fixed on the kusa-nin. Sasuke suddenly surged forward onto his hands, and threw up. Saburo seemed incapable of doing anything but staring and trembling, expression frozen as tears rolled slowly down his cheeks from the corners of his eyes, numbing fear dominating his entire posture. Narumi remained on her feet as she looked at her teammates. Despite her bodies attempted rebellion, her mind felt sharp and battle ready. The blonde swallowed hard, and grimly wondered if this was something else she could thank the demon for. She was the only one in any sort of shape to defend them. Taking a shuddering breath, she reacted the way she always did to the terrible rage and blood-thirst she felt from the Kyuubi in her dreams. Gritting her teeth, she snarled, and shoved her terror aside, stepping forward to stand in front of her two teammates protectively. As she drew a kunai, and held it out in front of her, she vaguely noted that her sense of smell was being smothered by the scent of Sasuke being sick behind her. The Uchiha tried to shove himself to his feet, but only fell back to the ground, supporting his weight on shuddering arms. The kusa-nin eyed the three of them. "Ho. So you're still standing after that, little girl? I'm impressed." Narumi met the woman's eyes, and swallowed hard. In that instant, she knew she was no match for this one. But her teammates were behind her, and she could not afford to back down. There was no way she'd be able to get both the boys to safety, so flight was out of the question. Which left only fighting. Narumi squeezed her kunai so tightly that her skin squeaked softly against the wrappings of the handle, and snarled a feral, almost animalistic challenge at the other kunoichi.

Behind her she heard a slight, rattling clink, and knew that one of the boys must have managed to grab a kunai. She also knew that it was unlikely that either of them would be able to actually wield the weapon, given their current state. The kusa-nin had turned her attention almost exclusively to Narumi now. "Well, it certainly is admirable that you can still move. But what do you think you can do? Look at you, your comrade can barely stand. You are entirely on your own." Narumi strained her peripheral vision, shifting slightly to catch sight of the others without turning her eyes away from the enemy. Sasuke had managed to get to his feet, but he was trembling as badly as Saburo. The woman started walking towards them, slowly drawing three kunai. "Relax, little one. I'll end this quickly. You won't feel a thing." Narumi snarled again, voicing her defiance. "I won't let you touch my comrades!" The woman laughed again. "Too late." With a quick flick of her wrist, she flung the kunai. Behind her, Narumi heard the wet sound of a blade sinking into flesh, and suddenly Sasuke shouted at her. "Run, Narumi!" With a quick movement, the blonde deflected two of the kunai. The third slipped past her, but Sasuke had already dragged Saburo's arm over his shoulders and leapt away. He was bleeding from a wound in his thigh, but was able to move again. Narumi instantly leapt after them, guarding their flank as the three of them raced away into the forest. Her heart was pounding furiously, and her throat felt far too dry. Adrenaline was still pumping through her veins, and her entire body was hyper alert to her surroundings. Drawing a shuddering breath, she firmed her jaw. _'That's alright. I'm afraid, but I can use that. Fear will sharpen my senses and reactions. I won't allow it to get in my way.'_

It wasn't long before Sasuke dropped onto a branch on the far side of a tree, released Saburo, and stumbled back against the trunk. As his back struck the tree, he slid down it to sit against the bark, breathing hard. Saburo had collapsed, his legs giving out on him, still trembling and wide eyed from the encounter. Narumi landed just beyond Saburo, turning back to eye her teammates with concern. Sasuke's kunai was still partly buried in his thigh, and blood stained his white shorts. He stared down at his hand wrapped around the weapons handle, chest heaving. Saburo sucked in a deep breath, apparently beginning to push past the paralyzing fear. Narumi frowned at them, and then went to one knee, eyes on Sasuke, though every other sense was still tuned to the surrounding forest. "We'd better pull that out." Sasuke gritted his teeth, still trembling, and yanked the blade from his leg, discarding the kunai. Saburo stared, leaning forward slightly as Narumi turned to scan the trees around them. "Sasuke...are you oka-?" Sasuke cut the rosette off, covering his mouth with one hand and peering back around the tree in agitation. Narumi's eyes shot wide open as the strong smell of snake hit her nose, and she whipped around. Saburo was trying to warn Sasuke, his cries muffled by the Uchiha's hand. The rosette was struggling to yank his teammates arm away, staring up at the giant snake looming above them with terrified eyes. Narumi surged forward, lifting her kunai. "Sasuke, a snake!" Sasuke whipped around, releasing Saburo, eyes spinning furiously with the sharingan as the snake lunged towards them. As the thing struck, mouth wide open, the three shinobi sprang away in different directions. Narumi found herself separated from her teammates. She and Saburo landed safely, but the snake continued winding itself around the tree, shooting after Sasuke, who had leapt straight up. Sasuke let out a terrified scream, voice breaking as he shouted. "Don't-don't get near me!" With a quick motion, the Uchiha released an almost wild barrage of weapons at the animal, killing it instantly. Sasuke landed on a higher branch, breathing hard, sharingan still active. His eyes were still fixed on the snake, as were Narumi's. Her eyes widened, and she shifted her grip on her kunai as a section of the things body began to shift and ripple, straining and bulging. Then its neck...cracked, scaled skin splitting open. Something was pushing it's way out from inside it's body.

An oily, calm voice rang out as the Kusa-nin rose from inside the corpse, covered in the fluids of the snake. "You can't let your guard down, even for a second. Prey should desperately run and struggle to live when in the presence of a predator." The woman's long tongue flicked out, lolling about as she laughed softly. Narumi stared, shocked, muscles tensing as her mind raced. Then the woman shot forward, and suddenly her legs had transformed into an incredibly long serpentine tail that she used to coil around the tree, shooting up it towards Sasuke's perch much as the dead snake had. Sasuke cried out, standing and stumbling back a step in horror, pupils contracting even as his eyes stretched wide open. Narumi's eyes narrowed, her hand shot back to her weapons pouch, and she hooked a finger through the center holes of three shuriken. With all the speed she could muster, she sent the weapons flying across the space between them at the kusa-nin. The older woman stopped instantly, allowing the weapons to bury themselves in the trunk above her, rather than pinning her body to it as they would have had she continued to advance. Narumi felt three pairs of eyes turn to her, Saburo cheered, and the kusa-nin eyed her calculatingly. Narumi growled, baring her teeth and feeling her nails lengthen slightly into claws, like in the nightmares where her body transformed into a monster. "Sorry, but I'm not going to let you do that. My teammates are not your prey."

The Kusa-nin rolled her eyes around and tilted her head back at an unnatural angle to stare at Narumi, who was crouched several branches above her head. Sasuke started, the tomoe of his sharingan whirling around his pupils so fast that they blurred, and yelled at the blonde. "Narumi! Don't get involved! She's way above our level, you have to run!" The kusa-nin ignored Sasuke's command, still eyeing Narumi. "Looks like you aren't a normal prey, Narumi-chan." Narumi gritted her teeth, feeling a little sickened both at the way the older shinobi used the suffix, and at the way her half serpent, half human body was wound around the tree so casually. Drawing another kunai, Narumi snarled at the other woman, sinking back into an instinctive battle stance. "I'll crush you!" Sasuke's eyes were shuttling wildly back and forth between her and the kusa-nin, but both he and Saburo were still too panicked to think of anything but running. And while that was probably the wisest option, Narumi's instincts told her that the shinobi in front of them was indeed a ruthless predator. She did not think that the woman would simply let them run. Especially given the way she was smirking up at Narumi.

Suddenly Sasuke let his sharingan fade, and called out to the kusa-nin. "Wait!" Narumi's eyes jerked to him, and she watched as he reached slowly into his weapons pouch to pull out their scroll. Her mind, which had been calculatingly tactics and speeding over possible battle plans, suddenly ground to a halt as her eyes fixed on the object in her teammates hand. "I'll give you the heaven scroll. Please, take this and leave us in peace." Narumi's eyes shot wide open, and her hands fisted so tightly that her claws dug into her palms and broke the skin, blood rolling sluggishly across her palms and down her fingers. Saburo cried out in horrified protest. "Sasuke! Why are you giving the enemy our scroll?" Sasuke cut his eyes to the still frightened rosette, and shook his head, dark eyes wild. "Shut up, Saburo!" The kusa-nin slithered to her feet as her snake tail faded away, propping a hand on her hip. "Hm. I see, you're a smart one, Sasuke-kun. After all, prey must always sacrifice something else to the predator if they don't wish to be eaten." Narumi looked back and forth between the two of them, the smug smirk on the kusa-nin, the wary tightness of Sasuke's expression. Her jaw tightened and she trembled slightly. She knew full well that this was an opponent beyond her skill. Her whole body screamed it to her with every moment they stayed in the enemy's presence. But this...she couldn't stomach this. It was nothing more than surrender. Iruka-sensei's voice echoed in her mind, his voice full of pride as he quoted the fourth Hokage. _"To abandon ones mission is not courageous. Beneath the courageous there is nothing."_ Breathlessly, she stared down at the scene in front of her, kunai dangling loosely from her fingers as she murmured. "No. No, you can't." Sasuke's voice was soft as he tossed the scroll towards the kusa-nin. "Take it."

Before she realized what she was doing, Narumi had pushed off her branch. Tucking her kunai back into her holster, she shot through the air, and snatched the scroll, pushing off a tree to return to the original branch and land back in front of Sasuke. The Uchiha turned to her, eyes wide with panicked anger as he shouted. "Fool, don't butt in! Do you understand the situation we're in?" As he spoke, Narumi gritted her teeth and stood. With one smooth motion, she pivoted and punched him hard across the face, throwing her entire weight into the strike. Sasuke's head snapped to the side, and his body jerked into the air, flying sideways before he twisted to land on a neighboring tree limb. The Uchiha shot to his feet, glaring at her. "What the- why did you do that?" Narumi shook, fists clenched at her sides, the heaven scroll a firm weight in her hand. As she noted the weight, she distantly wondered _'Is this why you did it? Was this weight to heavy for you to carry, Sasuke?' _She was very aware that she was now directly in the path of the enemy, and carrying the thing that enemy desired strongly. She knew that she should be focused on the shinobi in front of her. But right now, she felt disappointment and anger roaring through her chest, and her attention was divided between the stationary enemy and the black haired boy opposite her. When she spoke, her voice was steady and accusing. "I...forgot the password. So I can't make sure. But you're a fake Sasuke, aren't you?" Saburo let out a shocked noise, and Sasuke glared at her, voice still angry. "Dobe! I'm the real one!" Narumi shook her head vigorously, becoming more angry by the second. "No...you can't be. The real Sasuke isn't some stupid coward who would give in to the enemy!" Sasuke spluttered, black eyes still wild, voice still slightly too unsteady. "Dobe! Don't you understand how strong she is? Do you want us all to die?" Narumi's head came up, and she looked at her teammate, her expression fierce and grim. "I know how strong she is! But there is no guarantee that she'll let us go even if we do hand over our scroll!" Sasuke's pupils constricted further as he stared blankly at her. The blonde straightened, eyes narrowing as she turned back to the enemy. She didn't take her eyes of the woman again, but she still spoke to Sasuke as she reached back and tucked the scroll securely into her weapon pouch, pushing it carefully beneath her shuriken, exploding tags, a coil of chakra wire, and a thick pad of chakra paper. Her voice took on a slightly scornful, reproachful note as she addressed her teammate. "You're the one who's scared, who doesn't understand the situation."

The kusa-nin chuckled slightly. "Narumi-chan." Narumi dropped back into her combat stance, pulling a kunai from her holster. The woman's tongue slid out, waving wildly as she laughed insanely, and Narumi realized that there was a strong metallic undertone to the woman's scent, even stronger than the tinge in Gaara's. "You're correct!" Narumi could smell the shock and fear permeating Sasuke and Saburo's scents. She gritted her teeth, pushing her awareness of the two of them to the back of her mind, and focusing her senses on the enemy as the woman pushed one of her sleeves up to reveal a tattoo winding around her arm. "I just have to kill all of you to take the scroll." The kusa-nin brought her thumb up to her mouth, and bit down hard on the pad, reaching down to smear the blood across her tattoo. Narumi's heart rate jumped, and she shot forward with a savage cry. "Don't mess with us!" Behind her Sasuke cried out in alarm. "Don't! Run, Narumi!" The kunoichi ignored him, the bitter taste of disappointment a foul counterpoint to the hot recklessness of her anger at this shinobi who dared to threaten and toy with her comrades. _'Damn it...I've lost faith in you Sasuke.' _ The kusa-nin flashed through a series of hand seals, her voice cool. "Kushiyose no jutsu." A gale of wind suddenly surrounded Narumi as she leapt into the air above the enemy, and looked down. The branch they'd been standing on shattered, leaving the woman standing on the head of a giant snake that was slowly looming up towards her. Below her she heard Saburo scream. "Narumi-chan!" Narumi watched the beast come grimly, and as it lashed out at her, twisted her body, barely avoiding it as it slammed into the tree behind her, smashing it into many smaller pieces that were caught up in the unnatural gale around her. Quickly, she threw up her arms to shield her face from the dust and and pieces of wood that flew threw the air towards her, slitting her eyes so as to keep a visual of her enemy. She resisted the urge to flinch as one particularly large piece of wood struck her arms, breaking into two smaller shards to whip past her, and leaving several splinters embedded in her forearms. After a moment, the gale faded, and she found herself landing on another branch, further away from her teammates.

She crouched there, panting as the kusa-nin and her snake slithered up to loom over her. _'I've got to draw her away from Sasuke and Saburo, and I can't let her get the scroll of heaven. If I can just manage that...'_ The woman laughed, her voice mocking. "How cute. Really, such a cute prey." The snake suddenly lashed out with it's tail, whipping down underneath her, before snapping back up to splinter the branch she was perched on. Some distance away, she heard her teammates cry out her name, but couldn't spare any time to listen. She gritted her teeth as the snakes tail connected hard with her body, throwing her into the air to fly upwards, crashing through multiple weaker branches. Then her back slammed into the hard underside of a sturdier limb, and her eyes clenched shut in pain, her head smashing back against the mossy surface of the bark as the breath was driven from her. For a moment, all she was aware of was the burning pain in her back, the scent of her own blood, and the agony of striving to scream and finding she had no air left in her with which to do so. Her body seemed to cling for that moment to the surface she had struck, before gravity slowly peeled her away from it. She slitted her eyes open, and saw that she was plummeting towards the enemy and her summons. Her sharp ears clearly brought her the sound of the woman's mocking voice. "Go ahead and eat her." Vaguely, Narumi realized she would be unable to avoid the snake. The world seemed to slow down before her, each of her own heartbeats thunderous as they pulsed throughout her body, and her vision was suddenly sharper than it had ever been. She felt her canines lengthen and sharpen, until they were fangs that pricked at her bottom lip, and her aggression towards the kusa-nin seemed to spike. Easily, gracefully, she flipped around in the air, her lips peeling back in an enraged snarl as she cracked the knuckles of one hand. "Damn it!" Angrily, she slammed a foot into the snakes nose, jarring the thing backwards, and regaining her momentum as she moved up and away. The kusa-nin's cocky smirk suddenly dropped away, and she furrowed her brow in confusion as the snake reared back.

Narumi twisted her body around, landed on the side of a tree, clinging to it with chakra, before launching herself back at the snake. One of her hands clenched into a fist, while the fingers of her other hand extended and curled inwards repeatedly, almost like a big cat retracting and extending their claws. She snarled at the enemy as she flew towards her, her entire body vibrating with the desire to attack. The kusa-nin murmured quietly. "Could this kid be...?" Narumi ignored her. The first thing she must do, was get rid of the damn giant snake. _'Yes! Kill it, crush it, destroy it!' _Inwardly her instincts screamed, flavoring her own thoughts as she attacked viciously, slashing and clawing at the delicate sensor pits on its nose, forcing it back, away from her vulnerable teammates. The snake reared back and flicked its tongue at her, cracking it across her torso like a whip, and sending her back to smash against a tree. With a flip and a twist, the kunoichi managed to get her hands and feet beneath her, crouching against the bark, and then pushing directly off, shooting back towards her enemy with the determination and recklessness of a berserker. The kusa-nin smirked, and lifter her hand, blowing out an enormous katon jutsu at Narumi. The blonde tensed, realizing that she wouldn't be able to change her direction. Desperately, she threw up her arms to shield her face as roaring heat and pain surrounded her, searing her cuts and scrapes, biting at the gouge in her shoulder, and charring the splinters embedded in her skin. The force of the attack threw her back to land hard on a branch, gasping for air. The contact with the fire had been brief enough that only the edges of her coat were singed, and her hair wasn't even curled from the heat. Her thoughts were grim as she fought to force her own body back up, back into battle. _'I was lucky that time. Next time I might not be. Have to be more careful...'_ The hateful snake-like woman was staring down at her as the younger kunoichi braced a hand against the branch beneath her, and tried to lever herself up. "Those eyes...now I'm sure." Narumi growled up at her, chest still heaving as she dragged in air. The enemy chuckled scornfully, and then looked away, the snake turning away from Narumi. She blinked up in confusion, and then horrified realization as the woman spoke. "Now it's your turn. Sasuke-kun, how will you fight?" With one swift undulation of it's powerful body, the great serpent flew back across the painstakingly gained ground Narumi had lured it across, back towards her dark haired teammate.

Narumi saw the attack coming. Saw that Sasuke was too paralyzed by his fear to do anything but watch it come. She heard Saburo cry out in horror as the horrible pair advanced on Sasuke, faster and faster. Saw the rosette try to shove himself to his feet and stumble forward. Saw him fall as his legs refused to support him. She felt her heartbeat climb, thundering in her ears as anger filled her and with a wrench of her body, forced herself into motion. Rolling half off the branch, she threw all her strength into her legs, gathered her chakra there, and pushed off so fast that she distantly wondered if she might not tear through her muscles. She reached the branch at almost the same time as the snake. Drawing a kunai and landing in front of Sasuke, she threw her arms out facing him. The thing crashed into her back, but she sent chakra surging to her feet, holding it back with her outspread arms as she dug the blade into it's nose, just barely missing one of it's heat sensor pits. She dropped her head for a moment, trying to force her battered body to take in air, listening to the unhealthy sounding rasp of her own breath. There was a long moment of silence, and she choked out at her teammate "H-hey...you're not...hurt are ya?" She sucked in another breath, and lifted her head to glare at her wide-eyed teammate as sweat rolled down his temples. "Scaredy-cat." Sasuke's pupils dilated, and he stared at her. "Narumi..." Narumi glared at him, lifting her chin, voice sharp and unsteady as her muscles strained against the summon. "This coward I see right now isn't the Sasuke I know."

For a moment, the two of them locked gazes. And then Narumi was aware of a slick, hot, pink thing winding swiftly around her, twice around one shoulder, before slipping behind her back to catch the other in the same manner, and winding around her chest and torso. Her own pupils contracted, her expression shifting in shock and apprehension, and at that moment, her strength faltered, the chakra holding her to the branch flickering and fading. Suddenly she was being lifted up into the air, and she found herself unable to do anything about it. She cried out in alarm, instinctively trying to fight the sinuous bonds that held her tight as she was lifted high into the air. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that she was being held at eye level by the kusa-nin. The woman's mouth was open, and her tongue...oh kami, her tongue! Narumi felt sick as she realized what it was that restrained her. She had already spent her strength trying to lure the woman away from her comrades, and then shielding Sasuke. All she could do was thrash helplessly, and shout at the woman. "Kuso! Let go! Let go of me! Damned snake bitch!" Slowly, the woman reeled her tongue in, watching calmly as the thrashing Narumi was drawn closer to her, dangling in the air above the summons head. The tongue wrapped around her tightened, constricting her painfully, until she thought her ribs might crack. Narumi held rigidly still, fighting the restrictive coils as she tried to drag in something deeper than a shallow breath, and glaring furiously at the enemy now so close to her. The woman smirked at her around the thick muscle protruding from her mouth, leaning forward, so that their faces were mere inches apart. Narumi felt a bead of sweat roll down her temple, and bared her fangs at the enemy. The kusa-nin chuckled soullessly, and lifted her hands into a complicated hand sign that Narumi didn't recognize. Then she released the sign, and gripped the wrist of her right hand with her left. A purple flame sprung up around each of the fingertips of her right hand, and Narumi sucked in a sharp breath, refusing to give in or show fear, her senses overwhelmed with the scent of snake. Inwardly, she shuddered as the end of the woman's tongue slid over her shoulder, and down her torso, to worm its way under the edge of her t-shirt. Then it retreated slowly upwards, drawing her shirt up with it and leaving a hot, slimy trail of viscous saliva along her skin. Narumi locked her jaw as the disgusting thing stopped moving, knowing that her entire midsection, and the very edge of the bandages she wrapped around her chest for decency were exposed. The kusa-nin's eyes fastened on her abdomen, and Narumi glanced briefly down, seeing that the spiral seal around her navel was clearly and boldly visible.

Narumi looked back up at her enemy, gritting her teeth in helpless frustration. The woman smirked up at her one last time. Then her arm drew back as her voice rang out, cold and harsh. "Gogyo Fuuin!" The enemy's fingers slammed hard into her exposed stomach, and Narumi's spine curved as her body tried to draw away. The five purple flames burned into her skin, growing hotter and hotter, leaving her skin rippling beneath them as steam billowed away from the contact point. Her gut was full of fire, and her skin felt like it was melting off. Pain roared through her, greater than any before, and she tried to scream. But even though her jaw stretched and her throat worked, all that came out was a choked sound. Vaguely, the blonde was aware that her enemy had withdrawn her fingers from her torso. But the pain remained, overwhelming her senses. Dimly she heard Saburo yelling at their dark haired teammate standing on the branch below her. "Sasuke! Help Narumi!" But no help came. Narumi's incredibly sharp vision faded back to normal, and then her normal vision blurred, shapes becoming indistinct and foggy before her. Darkness wreathed the edges of her vision, and she struggled to remain conscious. The woman reached forward around Narumi's back, hand moving towards the helpless blondes weapon pouch where she'd stuffed the scroll of heaven. Narumi groaned, and twisted, grabbing the kusa-nin's wrist in a futile attempt to stop her. The woman raised an eyebrow, and contemptuously shook off her weak grip, retrieving the scroll, and tucking it into her robes without a glance. Then Narumi felt the tongue constrict again, and suddenly she was being thrown through the air. She had time to feel relief when the slimy hotness left her body, and then she was falling, falling, falling. Saburo-kun cried her name, his voice hard. There was the sound of a kunai burying itself in a tree, and suddenly she jerked to a stop, her t-shirt and jacket holding her up. she slumped forward, vision blurring to the point where all she could see were vague smears of color. She heard Saburo yelling at Sasuke angrily. Scolding him. "Sasuke, why don't you do something? Narumi-chan...she's different from you! She may be a dobe, but at least she's not a _coward!_" Narumi tried to move as she heard more yelling, and the sounds of someone fighting. Laughter, horrible laughter filled her ears and reminded her of the smell of snakes, with their dry skin and their hissing, fetid breath. The last thing she heard before the roaring in her ears drowned out everything else was a pained scream, though she was no longer sure which of the boys it might belong to. And then Narumi lost herself in darkness.

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><p><strong>AN: **_First off, thanks to jayley, ikcjjt, Mirajane Ryuu-Hitsugaya, and Zandamh for their reviews. All four of you have my thanks for taking the time to write those for me. Most eloquent and helpful, they were, and I truly do appreciate it. Both jayley and ikcjjt raised very valid points about the story, so I wanted to address those concerns right of. First, ikcjjt, I know that the story has followed cannon pretty closely so far. The reason is that I wanted to keep a certain base present in the story. But not to worry, we're getting to the part where we start to diverge from cannon. I will keep your warning in mind though, as you gave me very sound advice. Second, jayley, I'm so glad you're enjoying the story! While it's true I don't have many reviews, I treasure the ones I get from you guys all the more for that. Also, in regards to your point about Narumi's viewpoint being neglected, I am afraid to say that you are right. She is my main character, but after reading your review, I realized that I'd hardly written anything from her perspective. I am most heartily ashamed of myself, and shall attempt to rectify the mistake from now on. Thank you very much for pointing out this flaw, as I'm quite sure I wouldn't have caught it myself. To Mirajane Ryuu-Hitsugaya, I'm pleased to hear that you liked Haku, as I wasn't entirely sure if I conveyed his feelings well. Thanks for letting me know! Lastly, to Zandamh, it was so nice to hear from you. As always, I love to hear that people are enjoying the story, and it is very encouraging to get reviews that express a desire to see more updates. Also, I have to say it would take an enormous amount of very bad talent to write a Lee who was not cute in some fashion. I mean really, everyone loves that boy! To everyone who has reviewed for me so far, you rock \(^0^)/ !_

_Alright, as to this chapter. I had originally intended to separate the sections of the exam out into their own chapters. However, like Narumi, I am not fond of written tests...so I just smashed that in quickly to start off the first half of the second exam. As I'm sure you have noticed by now, Narumi's senses are quite a bit sharper than they are in the manga/anime. It's a side effect of her carrying the Kyuubi. While she's aware that her senses are quite good, being around Inuzuka and people with dojutsu bloodline limits has given her reason to believe that this is not unusual. She doesn't mention it to anyone simply because she thinks that it will give her an edge. This is a practice she picked up from observing the Inuzuka, who while they also have enhanced senses, don't mention it often in an effort to keep some element of surprise. _

_When team seven encounters Orochimaru under his creepy steal-your-face disguise jutsu, and he releases his Sakki, Narumi remains fairly unaffected. The reason for this is that she is, after all Jinchuriki. The girl walks around with a malevolent nine tailed fox in the back of her mind that wants nothing more than to destroy everything she holds dear. I think that might make her just a teensy bit more accustomed to such things than her more sheltered teammates. However, it still affects her because she has never felt such intense sakki during an actual battle. This is why she becomes a bit more animalistic during the fight. She knows she's cornered and outclassed, and it brings her instincts to the surface. Those have also been somewhat influenced by the kyuubi, so they're somewhat more ferocious than a normal shinobis. Also, when aspects of her body transform during the fight, she is not alarmed because she does not recognize what is happening. If she were not caught up in the heat of battle, she'd probably be all kinds of alarmed, seeing as this is her first transformation, but since she is, she only notes it as giving her slightly more of a chance of defending herself and her team successfully. _

_Lastly, she is angry and disappointed with Sasuke not because he is afraid, but because he has allowed his fear to rule him, and was willing to give up. The two of them are still rival/best friends, despite the different genders, and it makes her angry that he was willing to go belly up so easily. Being very much devoted to the ideals of Konohagakure, she is upset by what she sees as Sasuke throwing those values away in the face of his own terror. This is also why she does not rebuke Saburo, even though he doesn't really do much either. While Saburo is also practically immobilized by his sakki induced terror, he still holds on to those ideals, and tries to stop Sasuke from handing over their scroll. In this action, Narumi sees strength of character in spite of the weakness of body or mind. _

_Hope that wasn't too difficult to follow. Read and review please! _


	9. Strange Power

As Narumi slowly regained consciousness, she was aware of a sharp, aching pain spreading throughout her entire body from her abdomen, and the sensation of movement. Groggily, she wondered what was going on, and why she hurt so badly. The last thing she remembered was... her eyes shot wide open as the kusa-nin's face leapt into her mind, and she surged up from her semi-reclined position. "E-easy, Narumi-chan! Just...just hold still." Narumi blinked, and looked up, her body relaxing as she recognized Saburo's face looming above her. He was trying to smile at her, but his eyes were strained, and he looked exhausted. As he started slowly walking again, she realized that he was carrying her, bridal style, through the forest. She shifted again, and then hissed in pain as the movement jarred her torso. "Saburo-kun...what...what happened? Where are we going?" The rosette kept his eyes straight ahead, and Narumi realized that his gait was uneven and stumbling. "I'm taking you to where I hid Sasuke. Didn't expect you to wake up so soon." The blonde swallowed hard. "The enemy?" Saburo shrugged painfully, and then heaved a sigh as his eyes fixed on a large tree with a barely visible cave tucked beneath its roots. "Sasuke...Sasuke fought him. I tried to help where I could but...well. Sasuke used the Sharingan with a Katon technique that should have killed him. He wasn't moving anymore, and we thought he was down. I left Sasuke and went to get you but..." Saburo swallowed, and stopped to lean his shoulder against a tree, his breath shallow and uneven. "We were wrong. His neck...stretched. Like a snake. He bit Sasuke's neck." Narumi's eyes widened. "Bit...?" Saburo nodded, gritting his teeth and shoving off the tree towards the little cave. "Un. Some sort of weird mark appeared on his neck, and he collapsed. I'm not sure what's wrong, but he seems to be in a lot of pain, and he's running a high fever. Anyway, the kusa-nin told us her name. Apparently it's Orochimaru. Spewed a lot of crap about Sasuke coming to her for power because of the mark."

They reached the cave entrance, and Saburo stooped, ducking into the enclosed space. Narumi glanced down, and saw an unconscious Sasuke laid out on his back near the rear wall. Saburo carefully laid her down beside Sasuke, doing his best not to jostle her. Narumi squinted up at him suspiciously. Her teammates voice and face were tight and withdrawn, and he seemed anxious about something. She lifted a hand and weakly punched his arm. "Oi, Saburo-kun. What's wrong?" He blinked sluggishly down at her. "What do you mean?" She sighed, allowing one eye to slide closed. "Something else is bothering you. You're jumpy, and I saw all the traps you set up outside." The boy shrugged and looked away. "We're still in the middle of the exams. Orochimaru isn't the only one we have to worry about you know. It's just a precaution." Narumi snorted. "Saburo-kun. Spit it out." He remained stubbornly silent for a moment more, and she glared at him. "Look, if it's as bad as all that, you definitely have to tell me. We can't afford to be caught by surprise if we can avoid it." Saburo's shoulders slumped. "It's Orochimaru. She said that she had three subordinates, oto-nin, that would be coming after us."

Narumi stared at him. Then she nodded sharply. "Alright." With a grunt, she braced one hand on the ground, wrapped the other arm protectively around her torso, and started to lever herself up into a sitting position. Saburo immediately seized her shoulders and pressed her back against the ground. "Idiot, don't try to get up! We still don't know what that creep did to you! You need to rest!" Narumi glared up at him, gritting her teeth. "You just said we're being hunted by another team. Sasuke's unconscious and running a fever, and we still have all the other teams to worry about. Not to mention finding a good supply of food and water. We can't afford for me to rest right now!" Saburo glared down at her, shifting forward so that more of his weight was resting on her shoulders. "You've only just woken up!" Narumi frowned up at him. "I won't just lie here and put everything on your shoulders. For one thing, you're my teammate, for another, doing so is likely to get us all killed." Saburo didn't look happy, but he didn't reply either. Narumi sighed and lifted her hand to loosely grasp his wrist. "I won't push it. I'll just help you keep an eye out, alright? I know I'm not in the best shape right now, and I do need some recovery time. But I can get that just as easily keeping watch as I can lying in here." Saburo's expression darkened slightly. "I'm not gonna be able to convince you, am I?" Wordlessly, the blonde shook her head. He let out a long breath, and then shifted back, scooping her back up against his chest. "Fine. But you stay in the cave opening. If there's fighting you leave it to me, and if you start to feel worse, you lie down right away. Got it?" Unwilling to expend any more energy arguing, Narumi just nodded as he set her gently in the opening of the cave, with her back against a root. "I'm going to check on Sasuke. Keep an eye on the forest, and I'll be back soon." Turning, he receded into the cave. Narumi sighed, and turned her eyes out to the forest, scenting the air as she did so. She could smell the scents of a couple of teams, but they were far enough away that they shouldn't bother team seven. Mostly what she could smell was the blood and sweat of her teammates.

Narumi frowned and sniffed again. That was odd. There was a strong scent of...the best word she could think of to describe it was muffled. Muffled blood. Blood that was lying too close to the skin, like a bruise. But for the scent to be strong enough for her to catch, it would have to be turning back to her teammates, she called out casually. "Saburo. Did you get injured in the fight?" There was a pause, then Saburo replied in a neutral voice. "A bit. A few cuts and scrapes, maybe a wrenched muscle. Nothing major." Narumi hummed an acknowledgment, keeping her eyes on the trees. After a moment, Saburo came out, advancing just past her so that he was positioned defensively between her and the forest. The blonde turned her eyes to him. He'd fought Orochimaru with Sasuke after she'd passed out, and now he smelled like one massive bruise. She could tell by his pale, drawn face that he was both exhausted, and in pain, which only confirmed that he was likely wounded. But where? Her mind wandered, picturing the now-identified enemy, the way she'd seemed so like her serpent summons. An image of an unnatural pink muscle wrapped around her chest and shoulders sent a sudden shiver down her spine, and she shuddered, smoothing a hand over her shoulder. Then she blinked. _'Maybe...'_ Turning sharp eyes on her teammate, she beckoned to him. "Oi, Saburo-kun. Take off your shirt." Green eyes shot to her, and Saburo looked guilty. "I..." She raised an eyebrow at him, and he sighed, moving a bit closer to her and stripping off his shirt. Narumi's eyes widened, and she hissed in sympathy. A long, thick bruise that was a red-purple so deep in color as to be nearly black wound three times around his torso. It wasn't difficult for her to imagine how he'd gotten it. After all, Orochimaru had already shown his fondness for constricting helpless prey when she'd been caught. She knew that similar, if less spectacular, bruises probably adorned her own skin beneath her shirt and jacket. But it looked like the enemy shinobi had tried to crush Saburo. Alarmed at the thought, she shifted forward and reached out to him. "This might hurt a bit." With those half-apologetic words of warning, she ran her fingers lightly over his chest, pressing gently against his ribs and trying desperately to remember the first aid lessons they'd been given in the Academy. She was working her way down his right side when Saburo hissed, his lips compressing as his jaw locked. She froze, knowing by the reaction and the slight grating give beneath her touch that one of his ribs was at least cracked. Wordlessly, she pulled out a roll of bandages, carefully beginning to wrap his chest. "So? You gonna tell me why I keep having to drag the important stuff out of you?" Saburo sucked in a sharp breath as she pulled a bit at the bandages, making sure they were tight. When he spoke, his voice was rough. "I'm sorry, Narumi." She looked up at him in surprise. "What?" He wouldn't meet her eyes, resolutely looking back out towards the forest. "Back then, when you were fighting, I didn't do anything. You tried so hard to stop that woman, to fight her. You were amazing." He broke off for a minute, then resumed talking, his shoulders rigid. "You know, after you passed out, I shouted at Sasuke. Called him a coward for just standing there and watching. But I didn't help you either. I just stood there and shook like...like a damn civilian!" His voice was bitter with self-reproach, and Narumi glanced up at him in concern. Silently, she finished securing the bandages. When she sat back against the tree, she swept her eyes over the forest, and then glanced back at Sasuke.

"Saburo-kun...what's done is done. We survived it, and we'll learn from our mistakes." She glanced sideways at the boy who was silently pulling on his shirt. "You didn't leave Sasuke to fight on his own, did you?" Saburo's head snapped around and he glared indignantly at her. "Of course no!" She smiled slightly. "See? You've already gotten stronger than you were. I'd still trust both of you with my life." Slowly, she stretched one leg out in front of her, drawing the other up and lacing her hands together to loop her arms over her bent knee. She was silent for a moment, then tentatively she voiced her thoughts. "You said Sasuke collapsed after he got...bitten. Did he pass out?" Saburo grunted an affirmative, still not sounding quite pleased with himself. "Yeah, he did." She frowned slightly. "What happened after that?" Saburo shrugged, moving back to lean against a root that protruded a bit further than the one Narumi was reclining against. "Like I said, he spouted off a load of threats and predictions, and then ran off." Narumi nodded once. "So then what?" Saburo shrugged. "I couldn't carry you both, and we couldn't stay there with all the commotion we'd made. It'd draw teams down on us like sharks. I hid you both, and scouted out this place for us to recover in. Since Sasuke was heavier, I brought him back first. Then I went back for you. We were nearly here when you woke up, and you know the rest." Narumi snorted. "So, you helped Sasuke fight Orochimaru, then faced him alone after Sasuke collapsed, and then carried the both of us to safety with a cracked rib?" She kicked the boy's hip gently, leaning her head back against the trunk and letting her eyes slide closed. "Don't be so hard on yourself. You did plenty." She shrugged slightly, wincing as the movement sent a streak of pain from her navel to her lungs. "A-anyway. You are strong, Saburo-kun. Your chakra control is better than either mine or Sasuke's. You know it is." Saburo's voice didn't sound convinced, but he let the subject drop. "Go ahead and sleep, Narumi. I'll wake you up if anything happens." She huffed indignantly at him without opening her eyes. "Liar." A warm chuckle reached her ears, and she smiled again before slipping into a deep, natural sleep.

* * *

><p>It was dawn when Narumi next woke. She squinted, muttering under her breath as the morning light slanted across her face. Across from her, Saburo smiled, though he kept his eyes on the forest. "Good morning, Narumi-chan." She yawned, scrubbing the back of her hand blearily across her eyes, flinching when she jostled her abdomen. It was still painful, and the seal felt like it was burning against her skin, but she was determined not to let on to Saburo. "Ah, morning Saburo-kun. How's Sasuke?" The rosette shrugged, his voice concerned. "Better. His fever's broken, but he doesn't seem to be any closer to waking up." The bushes across from them suddenly rustled. In a flash, Saburo was on his feet, a kunai in hand as he stepped forward. Narumi reached for her own holster, preparing to shove her body to a standing position wether it liked it or not. Just then, a squirrel scampered out of the trembling leaves. She blinked at it, and there was a moment of silence. Then Saburo laughed in relief. "What the-? Just a squirrel." He relaxed, lowering his kunai, and Narumi leaned her shoulders back against the tree. Then the squirrel darted towards them, and Saburo frowned. "Ah!" Quickly, he threw his kunai, burying it in the ground in front of the animal, and frightening it into running away from them.<p>

Narumi frowned, then realized that the creature must have been about to set off a trap. Saburo crouched, eyes scanning the tree-line, and she took a close look at him. Dark circles under his eyes told her he hadn't slept. She nudged him gently with her foot. "Ne, Saburo-kun? Why don't you go ahead and catch some sleep? I'm pretty well rested now, I can keep watch." Saburo shifted his gaze to her and opened his mouth to speak. He was interrupted by an unfamiliar gravely voice. "Keeping watch the whole time without sleeping, boy? How foolish. There's no need to do that." Narumi's head whipped around, and she stared wide-eyed at the three oto-nin that had appeared on the opposite side of the clearing. She cursed mentally. _'Kuso! These must be Orochimaru's subordinates. But when did they get there? I didn't even scent them coming!'_ Saburo was back on his feet, his entire body tense, his hands tightly fisted at his side. Narumi went to push herself up, and Saburo stepped in front of her, voice sharp. "Narumi-chan, you promised!" She blinked stupidly up at him, and then scowled. "Saburo-kun-" The oto-nin ignored her, addressing Saburo in a deceptively mild voice. "It's alright, we're not going to bother with you. We just want you to wake the Uchiha for us. We want to fight him, you see." Saburo straightened, one hand hovering near his holster as he answered them. "We already know that Orochimaru is behind all of this." The three enemy shinobi startled as Saburo continued. "You're his subordinates, right? What's that strange mark on Sasuke's neck? And what the hell is the Gogyo Fuuin?" Saburo's voice hardened. "Anyway, how do you expect to be able to fight Sasuke after putting him in such a state?"

The bow-legged oto-nin with the large fur covering his back seemed to be the leader, and he answered in a careless, mocking voice. "I wonder too. What could that person be thinking?" The other male shinobi on the enemy team spoke up, smirking coldly at them. "But now that we've found out you know about Orochimaru-sama, we can't ignore it." He half turned towards the leader, though his eyes remained on Narumi and Saburo. "I'll kill this kid. The girl too. I'll even kill this Sasuke guy." Saburo's shoulders tightened, and Narumi snarled defiantly, moving into a crouch, though she remained in the entrance of the cave. The leader called out in a too-relaxed voice. "Wait, Zaku." Zaku glanced at the other man in annoyance. "What?" The man shuffled forward, squatting to lift a patch of false grass contemptuously. "This...so unoriginal." His head twisted to the side until it was almost horizontal to the ground. "There's no point to a trap if it's this obvious." Narumi's hand went to her holster, and she glanced up at Saburo, torn between her desire to fight with him, and the need to keep her promise. Saburo murmured quietly to her, not taking his eyes from the enemy. "Narumi, I need you to guard Sasuke, alright?" She glanced at the enemy, clenched her jaw, and nodded once. "Got it." Zaku snorted. "Still trying to act cool? How pathetic." The leader fixed his eyes on Saburo, voice cold. "Let's kill him right away." With those words, the three enemy shinobi sprang towards Saburo. Narumi pushed herself up into a defensive stance, ignoring the screaming of her body, and the wave of dizziness that hit her. She had promised Saburo that she would guard their unconscious teammate, and guard him she would.

Saburo gave a satisfied smirk, pulled a kunai, and cut a near invisible wire. A log suddenly swung out of the cover of the tree canopy above their cave, hurtling towards the oto-nin. Narumi grinned, thinking they'd caught them, but the lead shinobi somehow blasted through the thing, practically disintegrating it as they continued to arc through the air towards Saburo. Saburo's eyes widened, and he darted a bit further out, intentionally moving away from his teammates so they wouldn't get caught up in the battle. As the three oto-nin surrounded him, Saburo held up his hands in a simple hand sign. "Bunshin no Jutsu!" Suddenly four Saburo's stood where only one had been, and they each dodged in a different direction, ducking and weaving with the exact same movements. The oto-nin looked around, and then the leader narrowed his eyes, shooting after one of the figures shooting off towards the trees. "Trying to run, are you? It's no use, I can easily tell which one is the real you!" He'd nearly reached Saburo-kun's back when an explosion erupted from beneath his feet. Narumi's eyes widened. _'I see...Saburo-kun lured him into another trap!'_ The other two oto-nin stopped short of the billowing smoke cloud, eyeing it warily. Saburo suddenly leapt through it, smoke wreathing him as he streaked towards the oto-kunoichi. With a swift movement, he struck out at the older shinobi with a kunai. The woman deflected it with her own weapon, knocking the blade out of the Konoha shinobi's hands. As she did, Saburo brought his free fist around, and punched her hard in the shoulder, letting out a low cry. The woman stiffened, crying out in pain and leaping away from Saburo, clutching at her shoulder. Zaku whirled with a vehement curse, and drove his kunai into Saburo's chest. For a moment, Saburo appeared stunned. Then with a blast of white smoke that vanished quickly, he was replaced with a mossy log, and the boy himself reappeared on the far side of the clearing, poised in an instinctive combat stance. The smoke cloud lingering from the trap suddenly blasted apart, dissipating instantly to reveal the lead oto-nin, apparently unharmed, if slightly singed. "You damn brat!" The woman was staring at him accusingly, her arm twitching oddly as she clenched and unclenched her fist, carefully testing the limb out. "What did you do?" Saburo shrugged, eyes slitting as he panted. "I attacked you with my chakra. And I can do it any time I touch you." The woman's eyes widened, and the leader cocked his head, twisting it in that uncanny way of his. "Well, that's unfortunate. We'll have to end this quickly." Glancing over Saburo's head, he nodded to Zaku. He smirked and dipped his head once, yanking his blade from where it had bit deeply into the wood of the log. Then he dashed towards Narumi. "First things first, we'll get rid of your ally!"

Narumi's eyes widened, and she lifted her own kunai, locking her jaw and blinking hard to clear her vision of spots as she prepared to defend against the blow. Saburo let out a horrified cry, and he moved, using Shunshin to appear between Narumi and the oncoming enemy. Zaku smirked, lashing out at Saburo with his weapon. The rosette planted his feet and threw up his arm in a solid side block, using it as an improvised strike, and slamming the side of his forearm into the inside of Zaku's elbow hard. Zaku lost his grip on his kunai, his arm temporarily numb from the power of Saburo's strike. Narrowing his eyes, the older shinobi leaned back, lifting his leg and pivoting to slam it into Saburo's temporarily unguarded chest. Narumi paled as Saburo's face went white. The boy let out an agonized cry, flying backwards to slam hard against the tree. Narumi heard a sickening crack, and bit her lip as Saburo fell to the ground, doubling over to wrap his arms around his torso. After a moment, he tried to struggle to his feet. The leader scoffed. "Zaku. Finish it." Zaku cackled, letting a couple of kunai fly. "Ah, loosen up a little. Let me have a bit of fun!" Saburo threw himself to the side, managing to avoid one of the kunai. The other struck him awkwardly across the collarbone, not catching him squarely enough to break it, but leaving a deep gash. The leaders voice became tense, his tone warning. "Zaku..." The other oto-nin laughed, striding forward towards Saburo. With a savage movement, he kicked the younger boy hard in the side, slamming him onto his back. Saburo grunted, one arm wrapping around his ribs as he glared up at the oto-shinobi. "I know, I know. Don't worry, I'll finish the job." So saying, Zaku slammed his foot down on the fresh wound his kunai had left, grinding cruelly down on it. Saburo's eyes widened, and he cried out hoarsely, both hands shooting to warp around Zaku's ankle, straining to push it away as he writhed.

Narumi yelled at the oto-nin, body shaking with anger and pain. "Hey! Don't you touch Saburo-kun!" Three pairs of eyes fastened on her, and Zaku's eyes narrowed, though his smirk remained. "Don't worry, sweetheart. Your time's coming." Removing his foot, he leaned down and grabbed a fistful of Saburo's hair, dragging the other boy to his feet. Saburo hissed, and grabbed Zaku's arm, forcing another pulse of chakra into the limb. Zaku yelled, voice angry. "Shimatta! That hurts you damn brat!" With a savage twist of his body, he slammed his fist into the side of Saburo's head. Jade eyes widened as the skin of Saburo's temple split, sending blood spilling down the side of his face, Zaku's grip preventing his head from moving away from the blow. For a moment, Saburo stared up at Zaku, eyes wide and unseeing. Then they slowly slid out of focus, and closed, his entire body going limp. Zaku dropped him carelessly, delivering a powerful kick to his stomach, and sending the genins body rolling away from him. Narumi roared at them, stepping angrily forward. "I said don't touch him!" A sudden spike of pain knifed into her stomach, and she instinctively doubled over, leaning hard against one of the tall roots and squinting at the enemy. The three oto-nin moved towards her in a predatory fashion, and Zaku hissed a laugh, though his eyes were angry as he rubbed the place where Saburo had grabbed him. "You don't have to beg. We're all yours, Sweetheart." Narumi sucked in a shuddering breath. _'Kuso, this is bad! Why won't my body just listen to me?' _

Just as they were drawing near her, a voice cried out sharply. "Konoha whirlwind!" A green blur suddenly shot from the nearby trees, and in an instant struck the oto-nin away. The three of them were thrown back across the clearing, rolling and skidding as they attempted to remain on their feet. The leader cursed, sounding confused and angry. "What-?" Narumi blinked, confused. Suddenly, a green-clad back appeared in front of her. She sucked in a breath, her grip tightening on her kunai as her raw instincts screamed at her that some new danger was before her. Then she recognized the boy in front of her, and lowered her kunai. "...Lee-san?" The oto-nin had recovered from their tumble, and the leader sounded rough and irate. "Who are you?" The boy lifted a hand and settled back into his taijutsu stance, the same one he'd used against Sasuke. "Konoha's beautiful blue beast, Rock Lee." There was a silence, and Narumi shifted, pushing herself away from the tree root as the pain faded to a dull ache. "Why are you here?" Lee remained focused on the enemy, but a smile entered his voice. "I promised you, Narumi-san. Whenever you need me, I will definitely come to help you." The oto-nin were eyeing Lee warily, and Narumi definitely didn't think she could defend against all three of them alone. But she felt honor-bound to remind the other boy of their position. "You know, we're your enemies too right now." Lee didn't seem at all bothered by her words. "I told you before, Narumi-san. I will protect you with my life. Besides, you and your teammates are Konoha-nin. How could I abandon my comrades at a time like this?" A soft smile curled its way across her face, and she sighed. "Thanks, Lee-kun." Keeping an eye on the oto-nin, she slipped to where Saburo lay against the tree roots, and dragged him back to the cave entrance, crouching protectively in front of him, though she stayed behind Lee.

The oto-nin seemed to have calmed back down, and the leaders voice was bored again. "We seem to have no choice." Rummaging in his fur, he pulled out a scroll. Narumi's gaze fixed on it, and she drew in a quick breath. A scroll of earth! The leader tossed it back to the lanky shinobi behind him. "Zaku. Since you did so well with the other brat, I'll leave Sasuke-kun to you." The other shinobi caught the scroll easily, not even bothering to assume a battle stance as the man completed his statement. "I'll kill these two." With that, he raced towards them, pulling up a sleeve to bare a strange metal contraption strapped to his arm. Narumi pulled a shuriken from her weapons pouch, and hurled it at the oncoming enemy. The man dodged it easily, and leapt towards Lee. The black-haired boy dropped to the ground, shoving his arm into the dirt. Narumi's eyes widened as he pulled a root at least five times as thick as he was from the ground, using it as a shield against the enemy's attack. As the oto-nin struck it, chips of bark and wood flew through the air. Narrowing his lone visible eye, the other shinobi pushed off the root, flipping backwards through the air as Lee calmly addressed him. "There's some sort of trick to your attack, right? I won't dodge it in a normal way." Lee stepped out from behind the maimed root, eyes flicking over the opponents. "Looks like I'm at a disadvantage." Lowering his brows, he stepped forward. "Well, if the numbers are against me, I'll just have to change them. I'll defeat you one at a time!" Carefully, he began unwrapping the ends of the bandages around his arms. The oto-nin charged them, and Narumi's eyes widened. "Lee, watch out!" The boy lifted his gaze to the enemy, and crouched. Then he...vanished. When he reappeared in front of the oto-nin, he kicked straight upwards, his foot connecting hard with the older shinobi's chin, and lifting him into the air. Narumi blinked in shock. _'There was no chakra discharge. Not even a puff of smoke. That wasn't shunshin!'_ The Konoha genin shot into the air behind the flying oto-nin, much as he had with Sasuke. With a hard flick of his wrist, and a twist of his arms, he wrapped the other man tightly in his bandages, pinning his arms to his side, and then grabbing him in a tight bear-hug. As they fell back towards the ground, Lee spun the enemy so that he was falling headfirst with Lee's arms locked around his chest to prevent his escape. As they drew nearer to the ground, he set them to spinning, crying out as he did so. "Secondary lotus!"

Zaku eyed the two of them, muttering agitatedly. "Not good, he can't break the fall like that!" Quickly the other oto-nin began flashing through hand signs. Narumi wasn't sure what he was doing, but if he wanted to do it, then she didn't want to let him. With a quick movement, she sent another shuriken arching towards him. The woman slipped in front of her teammate, pulling a senbon and using it to deflect Narumi's shuriken. The blonde cursed. "Damn, I hate senbon!" Just as Lee and his captive were about to strike the ground, Zaku shoved his hands into the dirt with a cry. Two raised furrows of earth raced towards the impact point, reaching it just as the two shinobi connected with the earth. Lee had leapt away just before impact, leaving the enemy's head half embedded in the dirt. However, he was looking over his shoulder know with gritted teeth. Narumi frowned, eyeing the twitching corpse. Zaku scoffed, smirking. "Oh boy...looks like I made it in time." Lee landed in front of Narumi, glaring across the clearing at the three oto-nin, as the leader pulled himself out of the raised pile of earth, shaking his head once, apparently unharmed. Lee cried out in shock and alarm. "That's not possible!" The man shifted, cracking his neck as he turned back to the two of them. "What a terrifying move. Even though I was dropped onto sponge ground, it still hurt like hell." With a swift movement, he yanked his overlong sleeve back up to his elbow, revealing the same metal contraption as before, holding his arm straight out to the side as he stared the panting Lee down. "Now, it's my turn." When he surged forward and swung his fist, Lee dodged backwards, avoiding the blow. But despite the fact that it didn't strike him, he coughed, pupils contracting as he stumbled. Narumi pressed her fists to her ears, squinting one eye closed and hissing in pain as a tone rang out, so high and keening that it was nearly unbearable. "Lee-san!" The green-clad ninja was wavering, obviously trying to maintain his stance even as he swayed. The Oto-nin stood up, calmly allowing his sleeve to fall back over the metal device on his arm. "Your movement is indeed fast. But we are Oto-nin. Our moves are at the speed of sound, and surpass yours."

Narumi frowned at the enemy, shaking her head to clear the residual ringing from her ears. That was nonsense. She'd just seen them fight, and Lee was definitely swifter than the Oto shinobi. Then Lee dropped to one knee, bracing a hand against the ground and breathing hard. He stared up at the three shinobi menacing them, eyes flickerign from side to side as if he were trying to track some sort of movement. Then he surged forward and threw up, much as Sasuke had when they encountered Orochimaru's Sakki. Narumi instantly moved up to crouch by Lee, keeping her eyes on the enemy, and laying a hand on his shoulder. "Are you alright, Lee? What's wrong?" Lee stiffened under her hand, staring at the ground as blood began leaking from his left ear. Slowly, he glanced at her. When he spoke, his voice was a little sluggish. "Narumi-san, you should move back. I will be...fine." She eyed him and shook her head. "No way. These guys fight tricky. Besides, you're bleeding from your ear! That can't be good 'ttebayo!" Lee shook his head, steadying himself. "No. You are injured, are you not?" Narumi frowned, resting the palm of one hand uneasily against her stomach. If she got another spike of pain like before, she would just get in Lee's way. But she didn't know what was wrong with her that she was hurting so much...then her eyes narrowed. Now that she thought of it, those spikes of pain hadn't started until the Oto-shinobi had come. She had hurt before, but it had been getting better. Certainly nothing like the incapacitating agony she'd felt when she'd tried to help Saburo. What was different there? The answer struck her suddenly. _'My chakra. I tried to draw on my chakra to strengthen my taijutsu, like we were taught in the Academy.' _She took a deep breath, and answered Lee's question. "I think I should be fine as long as I don't draw on my chakra." Lee's head snapped around, and he wavered, nearly falling over. "Narumi-san, if it's damage to your chakra coils, that is even more serious! Please, let me handle this." The Oto-nin chuckled. "You know brat, you were right. There is a trick to my attack. Just dodging it won't help you." Lifting his arm, he tapped the other hand against the metal, tilting his head back to stare down at Lee, who was glaring back up at him, one hand clutching his ear. Narumi narrowed her eyes, tightening her grip on her kunai. "What did you do to him?" The man lowered his arm slightly, eyes viciously amused. "It's sound. Even if you dodge my attack, the sound attacks you." Narumi stiffened, remembering that high, keening pitch she'd heard. If that had been aimed at Lee, he would have taken the brunt of it, which would have been much worse. She swallowed hard. _'His ear...at the very least, the eardrum must have ruptured!'_ The Oto-nin chuckled. "Maa. Suffice it to say that you won't be able to move for a while, brat."

Zaku chuckled, pulling his hands from the ground, and opening them palms outward to reveal two holes in his hands. Air was blasting out from them so hard that Narumi could hear it rushing. "And even if you get past Zaku, there's me. I can control super-sonic sound-waves, and air pressure. Those outdated taijutsu moves of yours won't have any effect on me." Narumi bared her teeth, tightening her hand on Lee's shoulder, then standing and moving forward. She crossed her arms over her chest, cocking her head to the side provocatively. "Funny, I seem to remember that those outdated taijutsu moves had you eating dirt just a minute ago, 'ttebayo!" Zaku narrowed his eyes, rising to his feet. "What did you say?" The leader interrupted, voice lifting a bit. "Yosh...you're next." So saying, he held out his arm, and darted towards her. Narumi hissed and turned, shoving down the protests of her body, and lifting her kunai, mind racing. _'I can't use my chakra, so Kage Bunshin, shunshin, and kawarimi are out of the question. But I can't let myself get hit by that attack...I'll have to jump for it!' _Before she could, Lee shot in front of her, attempting to attack the oncoming Oto-nin. With a cry, he swung his leg towards the enemy. "Konoha whirlwind!" Just as his foot was approaching his target, he flinched, wobbling in place, attack losing it's power. The enemy scoffed and caught his ankle, vaulting over the attack. "Seems like my attack was effective. You're not nearly as dangerous now." Quickly, he swung his arm at Lee, like a club. Lee widened his eyes, and threw up a quick side block, straining against the other shinobi. His opponent scoffed, and Narumi had to cover her ears again as that same horrible sound rang out, even stronger than before. "Lee, watch out!" The bandaged man narrowed his eye. "You probably think you're safe like this, but the sound isn't limited to the direction of my speaker. I can direct it with my chakra!" Suddenly Lee's eyes widened, and he faltered, letting out a choked cry as the dribble of blood from his ear increased. The boy swayed, and then collapsed to the ground as the ringing faded away. The Oto-nin lifted his fist, staring down at the sprawled out form of the Konoha genin. "Now then, it's time to finish you off."

Narumi snarled, darting forward and leaping over Lee's body. "Not while I'm here!" As she brought her kunai down in a swift slash, it clashed against the metal device covering the older Shinobi's arm as he brought it up to guard himself. Sighing, he eyed her malevolently, voice menacingly soft. "Geez..." She bared her teeth at him, desperately wishing she could use a little chakra to strengthen her arm as she bore tried to match strengths with her enemy, spreading her legs into a broader stance to give her more leverage. The leaders eyes shifted to the side, and suddenly he leapt back. "Zaku, I'm tired of dealing with these brats. You handle it." Zaku grinned, moving forward and bringing his hands up. "It'd be my pleasure, boss!" Reaching back into her weapons pouch, Narumi snatched a couple of shuriken, and hurled them at the other man, moving moving quickly to the side so that Lee was in no danger of getting caught by a stray enemy attack. With a blast of wind, Zaku deflected the projectiles, chasing after her, calling after her in a cruelly amused voice. "Come on, now Sweetheart! Don't you wanna dance with me?" Gritting her teeth, Narumi turned to meet him, lifting her kunai. That was when she saw the woman moving towards the cave entrance. _'Saburo-kun! Sasuke!'_ Instinctively, she pulled back, disengaging Zaku, and lifting her hands into the sign for kage bunshin. She froze just before releasing the justu, remembering that she couldn't use chakra during this fight. The stumble cost her greatly. Zaku reached out and grabbed her wrist. Spinning her around, he jerked her arm up behind her at a painful angle, and slammed her up against a tree. She only just managed to turn her face away in time to avoid breaking her nose. Gritting her teeth against the cries of her abused muscles, Narumi released her kunai, catching it in her free hand, and swinging it back towards Zaku. The man cursed, jerking back as she felt the kunai impact, driving through his upper arm in the same place Saburo had injured him. "Shit! What the hell?" The leaders voice rang out sharply. "Kin, get the Uchiha. Zaku, kill her." Narumi growled under her breath, and threw herself hard to the side. Her arm screamed with pain as she dragged against Zaku's hold, but she ignored it, digging her elbow into the wound she'd just given him. Zaku roared, and released her wrist. She struck the ground hard, rolling to her feet, and shooting towards the newly identified woman. Kin glanced over her shoulder, hissing. "Zaku!" Narumi shuddered as she sensed the man looming up behind her, and when he gritted out his answer, his fuming voice was practically in her ear. "I know!"

Reaching for her holster, Narumi started to turn. She was halfway there when Zaku backhanded her savagely across the face, throwing her off her balance and sending her crashing to the ground. She rolled, coming to her hands and knees, and instinctively sending chakra to her legs, intending to use the extra strength to reach the cave entrance before Kin. Instead, she paled, crumpling to the ground and doubling over as white-hot pain shot through her abdomen. "Ah!" Zaku snorted above her, and kicked her hard in the stomach. Her arms guarded against some of the blow, but it still sent her rolling across the ground. Clenching her teeth, she tried to lever herself up with one hand, glaring at Zaku. The other two enemies had stopped to watch, and she had the sickening sense that she wasn't going to like whatever happened next. Zaku's eyes glinted with rage as he stalked towards her. Reaching down, he caught the front of her shirt and dragged her up, hissing furiously at her. "Bitch!" His fist crashed hard into her face, and her head snapped to the side. Again and again his fist rose and fell, and Narumi's struggles became less and less pronounced as the beating continued, blows raining down on her head, shoulders, and stomach. Dimly, she wondered if the man was planning to beat her to death, and noted with a foggy sense of scorn that it was very unskilled of him. As she tried to blink the blood out of her eyes, she wondered if she was imagining the new scents wafting through the air. Zaku finally threw her away from him, and she let out a gasp of pain as she crashed into the ground. She sucked in a few deep breaths, and slowly levered herself up onto her hands, glaring at the enemy as she struggled to force her body into a crouch. Zaku lifted his hands towards her, palm outward, his face twisted in anger. "I'll kill you!" A tight stream of air left his palms and roared towards her. Narumi gritted her teeth, and threw herself to the side, rolling towards the root cave, and trying to spring to her feet. However, her body was too unsteady to carry her any further, and she stumbled, going hard to one knee. Zaku hissed angrily, turning towards her. "You can't keep dodging forever." Then the older shinobi's eyes slid past her, and he froze, he and his teammates taking a wary step back.

Narumi furrowed her brow in confusion, glancing over her shoulder, into the cave. Her eyes widened, and her body tensed. Purple chakra was rising steadily from Sasuke's body, strong enough to be visible to the naked eye. Just as she turned to look, the strange chakra blasted upwards, roiling toward the sky in a spiral formation that temporarily blocked her view of Sasuke. When the chakra thinned back out to a reasonable level her, she was shocked to see her dark-haired teammate on his feet. His eyes were half open, and fixed on the scene in front of him. Strange marks like flames were crawling across half of his body, and his sharingan was active, the tomoe whirling lazily around his pupils. He looked angry, and dangerous. Narumi shivered, instincts murmuring alarms in her head as the hair on the back of her neck slowly rose. Slowly, Sasuke walked forward until he was standing about even with her, a few feet to her right. When he spoke, his voice was low and dark. "Narumi. Who did that to you?" The blonde blinked, lifting a hand to touch the blood drying on her bruised face in surprise. Then she shook her head, swallowing back her uneasiness, and turning a little towards him. "Never mind that! Teme, your body...your chakra, it's..." Slowly, the boy lifted his left arm, staring down at the undulating black markings writhing across his skin without any change in his expression. A change in wind brought new scents to Narumi's nose, and she realized that Shika's team, as well as Lee's were both watching from the foliage around the edge of the clearing. Their scents were spiked with fear, and wariness. Sasuke's voice brought her attention back to him sharply. "Don't worry about it. More importantly, I can feel it." Narumi stared up at him, her mind feeling sluggish, as he continued. "Power. Power rushing through my body." Dropping his arm, he shifted his gaze to the three Oto-nin across the clearing, frighteningly red eyes flickering over the blood spattered lightly across Zaku's face and hitae-ate from the beating he'd given Narumi. "I'm feeling good right now." Narumi shivered at the dark pleasure in those words. She frowned up at him, becoming increasingly concerned about her teammates strange behavior. "Teme..." Sasuke didn't even look at her. "That person gave it to me. This power." Narumi's head jerked up in alarm. "What?" Sasuke's voice stayed soft, never changing or acknowledging her reaction. "I understand now. I finally understand." Then his brows snapped down, and his voice roughened with anger. "Narumi, tell me! Who the hell injured you?"

Before Narumi could respond, Zaku cocked his head and smirked at the younger shinobi. "That'd be me, brat. Mind letting me finish the job?" Sasuke's eyes instantly shot to the enemy shinobi, and he turned fully to face him. Zaku chuckled. "Well, it works out for me either way, since you were the one I was supposed to kill in the first place." Sasuke's lips curled back from his teeth, and the strange black markings briefly glowed a sick, fiery orange-red, writhing across his skin to cover his entire body, before returning to black. Narumi hunched her shoulders, staring wide-eyed at her teammate. She had no idea what to do. For some reason, Sasuke was setting off all her instincts for danger...but that couldn't be right! He was her teammate, he'd never hurt her. The leader jerked back, looking alarmed. Zaku lifted his hands, calling back over his shoulder in a tight voice. "Dosu! Don't be afraid of this half-dead guy!" Dosu whipped around and shouted. "No, don't Zaku! Don't you understand?" Zaku ignored him. "I'll kill them all with this!" Narumi sucked in a sharp breath, intending to shout a warning to Sasuke. She didn't have enough time, as Zaku released a roaring steam of air as strong as the one that had separated her from her team just before they ran into Orochimaru.

Narumi threw up her hands, instinctively trying to shield her face as her eyes flicked desperately towards Saburo's still form lying in the entrance of their hideaway. In that instant, a strong arm clamped around her midsection, yanking her up off the ground as the world blurred around her and wind rushed past her face. For a moment she thought she might have passed out, but then the world stilled again, and she found herself crouched on the ground just behind Zaku. Saburo's body was stretched out beside her, lying on his stomach with his face turned towards her. Sasuke was standing just in front of them, still looking frightening. Zaku hadn't had time yet to notice their presence, and was chuckling breathlessly as he eyed an enormous furrow that had been plowed into the ground and taken a sizable chunk out of the root cave. "Would you look at that? They got blasted into pieces!" Sasuke's voice was hard and flat when he answered. "Who did?" Zaku's eyes widened, but he had no time to react, as Sasuke backhanded him. The blow was so relaxed looking that Narumi almost didn't expect it to do any damage. But Zaku shouted in pain, and was thrown into the air, smashing into the ground and rolling to Dosu's feet. Coughing, the Oto-nin got to his hands and knees, glaring venomously at the Uchiha. Turning towards them, Sasuke flashed through a series of hand signs, and fired off a Katon. Narumi's eyes widened as Zaku surged to his feet. She knew Sasuke's signing speed, and this was far above it. "Don't get cocky! I'll blow that attack away!" Lifting his hands, he blasted the fireballs hurtling towards him. The fire went out, but a multitude of oncoming shuriken appeared out of the flames. Zaku jerked, eyes widening. "What?" He had no time to deflect the weapons, and threw up his arms in an attempt to protect himself. As the shuriken shot past, slicing through him as they went, Sasuke suddenly appeared before him. Reaching out, the Uchiha grabbed his wrist, and yanked the Oto-nin down, past his body. As Zaku stumbled to his knees, Sasuke caught his other wrist in his free hand, turning smoothly with Zaku's momentum, and planting his foot squarely on the older shinobi's back, pulling his arms straight back until Zaku was completely immobilized. The entire attack took less than an instant, so fast that Narumi nearly couldn't follow the movement. Sasuke's lips curved up into a scornful smirk, and Narumi shivered. The scent of fear permeated the clearing, and she instinctively moved between Saburo's unconscious form and Sasuke.

Zaku's eyes widened in horror, his pupils contracting. Sasuke lifted his foot slightly, and then stamped back down on his back, harder than before. The Oto-nin's mouth slid open, his face terrified. Sasuke continued to smirk darkly at the back of his captives head. "You seem quite proud of these arms of yours." The Uchiha pressed a little harder, and Narumi could practically hear the man's bones and joints grinding together. Zaku looked over his shoulder at Sasuke. "S-stop it!" Sasuke's eyes widened, and his smirk shifted into something twisted. Narumi shivered as his scent was touched with that same bitter tang that troubled her so in Gaara's scent. With a deliberate shove, Sasuke broke both Zaku's arms. There was a sickening crunching, snapping sound, and Zaku let out a choked scream of agony. Narumi paled, wanting to cover her ears and shut the sound out. Sasuke dropped the man, letting his body collapse to the ground, where he lay shivering. Kin swallowed hard, and darted past Narumi, trying to run for it. Sasuke appeared next to her, slamming his hand into the side of her neck. Her eyes widened, and she gasped once before collapsing to the ground. Then Sasuke half turned to look over his shoulder at Dosu, that same twisted smirk still on his face. "That just leaves you." Dosu was shaking slightly, eye wide as he stared at Sasuke. The Uchiha turned fully to face Dosu, so that Narumi was treated to a full view of his slightly crazed face as he spoke, his voice sounded gloatingly amused. Too much like Orochimaru's.

"You better entertain me better than they did." Then he started walking, calmly, measuredly stalking forward, approaching the place where Narumi crouched beside Saburo as he headed for the enemy. She stared at him, confused and frightened. Kami, she hadn't even been this frightened when they were facing Orochimaru. _'That isn't...that isn't Sasuke.' _As he drew even with her, she surged clumsily to her feet, stumbling into his path with a cry. "Teme, stop!" Turning her back to Dosu, she seized his shoulders, halting his advance as she stared into his face. His sharingan eyes fixed on her, and she swallowed hard, shaking her head. "Listen to me, Teme! Just...just stop. Please?" There was a long moment of tense silence, as red eyes bored into blue. Stubbornly, she refused to lower her gaze. Slowly, the black markings turned that same, unnatural shade of orange-red, and receded, leaving the Uchiha's pale skin unmarked. Sasuke's eyes faded back to black, and his expression and scent lost the bitter, foreign edge. As the smirk left his face, his legs buckled, and only Narumi's grip kept him from crumbling to the ground. As it was, she had to help him sit down a bit more swiftly than was generally considered comfortable. Frowning at the panting boy, she tentatively questioned him. "Teme? You okay?" He nodded once, not answering verbally. Dosu's voice interrupted them, drawing both their attention. "You're strong." As Narumi looked up, Dosu extended his teams earth scroll. "Sasuke-san, we cannot defeat you." Going to one knee, he placed the dark scroll on the ground in front of him. "Let's make a deal. In exchange for this, please let us go." Narumi stared at the man, a sickening memory of Sasuke saying almost the same thing to Orochimaru flashing through her mind. Dosu stood, backing away from the scroll, and circling warily around them to scoop up his teammates, grunting as at the effort of lifting them both. "It might be asking too much for you to leave us this time, just for a scroll. So I promise that next time we meet, we will not run or hide." Turning, the Oto-nin started to walk off into the forest.

Narumi glanced back and forth between Sasuke's silent form, and the increasingly distant back of the enemy shinobi. "Wait!" Dosu glanced over his shoulder warily, and she glared at him, more agitated than ever. "Who is Orochimaru? What exactly has he done to Sasuke?" The man replied warily, but steadily. "I don't know. We were merely ordered to kill Sasuke-san." With that, he vanished away into the forest. Narumi stared after him, more confused than ever. There was a moment of silence, and then with a rustle, Shika's team stood up warily from their place in the bushes. Choji and Inori were flanking Shika, and Inori's hand was resting lightly on the top of her head, as though he'd been trying to shield her. As they slowly relaxed, Chouji called out to them. "Oi, are you guys alright?" Inori leapt out of the bushes, glancing warily at the place Dosu had vanished as he headed towards them with a wave. "Narumi-chan! Not to fear, I'll look after you now!" Shika scoffed slightly. "Inori-kun, you're being troublesome. You help Saburo-kun." Inori scowled, glancing over at Saburo's still form. When he saw his friend sprawled bonelessly across the ground, he faltered, face becoming serious, and then nodded once, changing direction and running to his best friend. Shika turned to her other teammate, voice urgent. "Chouji, see to that Lee guy, will you?" The Akimichi nodded, and rushed over to the limp boy still sprawled across the ground. Narumi looked over at Sasuke to say something, and found him staring down at his own hands in frightened confusion. "What was I...?" She blinked at him, shifting uncertainly. Then with a frown, she whacked him over the back of his head. Startling, Sasuke glared at her. "Oi, Dobe! What was that for?" She snorted and crossed her arms, looking away and ignoring him to shout at Shika's teammate. "Inori-baka! Be careful with Saburo-kun!"

Inori, who had just turned Saburo over, looked up at her with wide eyes. "You gave me a nickname, Naru-chan!" Narumi snorted and rolled her eyes. "Just be gentle, will you? He had a cracked rib before the fight with those Oto-nin, and Zaku smashed him up pretty badly. It's probably worse by now." Inori's eyes narrowed, and he nodded sharply. Shika appeared behind Narumi, looking her over. After a moment, she passed judgment in a lazy drawl. "You look terrible, Uzumaki." Narumi snorted. "Thanks, Shika. I'm fine." The Nara snorted, moving to tuck her hands into her pockets, and then frowning in irritation as she realized her new clothing had none. Shifting, she settled for bracing a hand on her hip. "Troublesome." Chouji was walking towards them with Lee slung over one of his shoulders when Inori suddenly spoke sharply. "Oi! Idiot, don't try to move!" Narumi's head whipped back around, and she saw Saburo sitting up, looking somewhat groggy. "Saburo-kun!" Instantly, she shoved herself to her feet, and staggered over to where he was. Sasuke blinked, and then quietly stood and followed her, catching her shoulder to steady her as she stumbled in his direction. She shot him a grateful look, and then knelt beside a confused looking Saburo. The rosette's eyes flickered over the shinobi in the clearing in bewilderment before focusing on Narumi. "What happened? Narumi-chan, your face...!" Narumi grinned at him, rubbing the back of her head absently. "Don't worry about it, the swelling'll go down in no time!" Shika and Chouji joined the rest of them around Saburo, and Shika snorted at her statement. "At least wash the blood off." Narumi stuck out her tongue cheekily at her friend before accepting a bamboo container of water. Sasuke had already secreted away the earth scroll from Dosu's team, and he stood quietly over his teammates as Narumi splashed water on her face, gingerly wiping most of the blood away with her jacket sleeve. "More importantly, Saburo, we probably need to do something about your ribs." Inori nodded. "If you'd just let me look at 'em, idiot..."

Chouji shrugged, and coughed a bit. "Ano...what exactly should we do with this guy?" Just as he said that, the Chinese boy from Lee's team dropped to the ground behind the Akimichi. Everyone in the clearing started, hands moving automatically to weapon pouches. The boy looked calmly up at the Akimichi. "Excuse me. I'm Tenma, Lee's teammate. I'll take him, now." Chouji blinked, glancing over at Shika as the older genin straightened. The Nara eyed the newcomer for a minute, and then nodded at Chouji. The Akimichi inclined his head to the older boy, handing over Lee carefully. "Sure..."

Tenma smiled his thanks at Chouji, as he took his teammate from him. Suddenly he grabbed Lee by the shoulders and began violently shaking him back and forth, eyebrows snapping down as he roared at the other boy. "Wake up, Lee!" After a moment, Lee seemed to snap out of his half-conscious daze. When he did, Tenma dropped him, shoving a hand in one of his pockets and frowning down at the boy in exasperation. Lee blinked his eyes open, focusing on his teammate blearily as the other boy crouched in front of him. "Tenma...why are you here?" The chinese boy sighed. "We came to help you, moron. What else?" Lee blinked and looked around the clearing, still seeming a bit out of it. "Huh? Where did the Oto shinobi go?" Tenma jerked his head back towards where Sasuke, apparently ignoring the fact that he and his teammate were currently the center of attention. "That Sasuke kid drove 'em off. Why'd you have to go and get yourself so badly hurt anyway?" Lee dropped his gaze sheepishly. "Well... Narumi-san was in trouble, so as a man, I had to..." Tenma eyed him as he trailed off, and then sighed, raising a hand to massage his temple gently. "Maa maa. I get it already. Just be more careful, ne?" Reaching out, he ruffled Lee's hair in a roughly affectionate manner, and Lee grinned brightly up at him. "Tenma, where is the beautiful Nobuye?" Tenma smiled slightly, and half turned. "Up there. She was worried about you, ya know? But it's Nobuye so..." With that, he shrugged, and Lee chuckled a little, leaping to his feet to wave energetically up at where the Hyuuga girl was standing on a tree branch. She rolled her eyes and leaned against the trunk of the tree, crossing her arms across her kimono and apparently dismissing them all from her mind.

Lee laughed good-naturedly, and then turned his eyes towards Narumi. She shifted as his expression became solemn. "Narumi-san. I'm sorry. Next time we meet, I will be a stronger man!" Narumi flushed a little, but grinned at him, understanding what the older boy was trying to say. "I know." Inori broke the silence, smacking Saburo hard over the head. "Idiot, I said take it off!" Saburo rubbed his head indignantly, glaring at his friend. "I know, I know! But..." Sasuke and Shika sighed heavily, and Inori raised his fist threateningly. "Saburo..." The rosette paled at the frighteningly soft voice, and instantly began wriggling out of his shirt. "Alright, alright! Look, I'm taking it off!" As he pulled his arms into his shirt, Tenma chuckled and shook his head. Standing, he pulled Lee to his feet, and nodded to the other genin. "Jaa, we'll be off now." Lee grinned brightly at Narumi, striking a nice guy pose. "I wish you and your team luck, Narumi-san!" With that, team ten vanished, leaping away into the forest. Inori looked after them for a moment with a forlorn sigh. "Ah, what a waste! To have been in the presence of such a beauty, and not gotten to talk to her!" Shaking his head, he turned back to Saburo. His eyes narrowed slightly as he caught sight of the extensive bruising on his friends torso, but he didn't comment on it. The two of them bantered back and forth as Inori re-wrapped Saburo's ribs, perhaps a bit too snugly for comfort. The Yamanaka seemed to take a certain wicked delight in tugging the bandages tighter as Saburo yelped and growled at him.

Once he was done, Inori turned away from the other boy and beamed at Narumi, bouncing over to her. "Naru-chan! Your turn!" Narumi blinked at him, holding up her hands palm out in a defensive gesture. "Oi, oi! I already washed the blood off Inori-baka! It'll heal fine on it's own." Inori pouted at her, eyes going wide and watery. "Aw, but it'll heal up so much faster if you'll just let me help you out. Besides, Naru-chan, Naru-chan! I want to tend to your wounds! After all, if I have to help this lout, I definitely have to nurse such a brave and lovely kunoichi as yourself!" Narumi made to protest, but stopped speaking as Sasuke's hand descended on her head, sitting quietly on her hair. "Dobe. It can't hurt." Narumi scowled up at him, but sighed dejectedly. "Fine." Inori whooped and wetted down a cloth, kneeling in front of her and leaning forward to gently bathe her swollen, scraped face. Quickly, he cleaned out the dirt that had been ground into her abrasions, and rubbed some herb leaves over the broken skin. Narumi flinched away as it stung, but then held still for him. A sly grin crept across Inori's face as he wrapped up his ministrations. "And now for the finishing touch!" Reaching out, he caught her chin in his hand, and his grin turned devilish and charming. "A kiss for the princess..." Leaning over, he placed a quick peck on her forehead with much exaggerated smacking of lips. The kiss itself though, was more of brotherly than anything else. Narumi squeaked, jerking away to glare at him, and Sasuke planted a hand on the other genins forehead, shoving him back and away from Narumi so that he rocked on his heels. Saburo, who had only seen the back of Inori's head as he leaned in for the kiss, and heard the loud smacking of lips, started yelling, and launched a kunai at the back of Inori's head. Tthe Yamanaka used the momentum from Sasuke's shove to roll backwards beneath the kunai, rolled to his feet, and leapt up into the trees, bounding off into the forest chortling. His teammates followed him quickly. Shika paused on a branch above the clearing, and looked down at Narumi. "You guys gonna be okay?" Narumi shook her head a little, clearing away her irritation with Inori, and grinned brightly up at her friend. "You kidding? We're so beating you to the tower!" Shika snorted, rolled her eyes, and then jumped away, vanishing after her teammates.

Saburo was still spluttering and fuming after Inori, and Sasuke's face was stoic. With a sigh, the Uchiha shook his head and spoke. "Come on you guys. We'd better get moving." Narumi turned to look up at her teammate, already getting to her feet even as she questioned him. "Wouldn't it be better to let you and Saburo rest a bit more before we move?" Sasuke shook his head. "There's been too much commotion here. The fighting and the presence of so many shinobi will draw in other teams, and endanger our position. We need to get away from here while we can." Narumi thought about, and nodded once. She knew that they were still in no shape to be taking on any more opponents than they had to. Saburo got slowly to his feet, and staggered as he tried to straighten. Narumi instantly moved to catch him, holding him steady as the boy shook his head. Sasuke eyed the two of them, and his voice was slightly concerned when he spoke to Saburo. "You gonna be alright?" Saburo took a deep breath, and gently shrugged out of Narumi's grasp, stepping away from her and squaring his shoulders. He nodded tightly to Sasuke. "I'll be fine." Sasuke looked him over carefully, and then nodded back. "Alright. Our best bet is probably to head to the river. It'll be a ready source of food and water, and most teams will avoid it in case of traps." Narumi frowned. "You mean in case a more dangerous team is waiting for them to show up, right?" Sasuke nodded silently, and she scowled. "Teme, that's a terrible plan!" Sasuke shook his head. "No, because almost everyone will have the same idea to avoid it. So the cunning hunters won't set their traps there, where they'll be expected and avoided. They'll be spread throughout the forest, and most likely concentrated around the tower itself." Saburo and Narumi exchanged glances. Then Saburo shrugged. "Well then, let's get going."

The three of them sprang into the trees, heading for the river, whose position they had all marked as a matter of course when they were shown the map of the training ground. Sasuke took the lead, and Narumi became rear-guard, the two of them silently covering for Saburo, whose face was still pale and drawn with pain, no matter what he said. It was nightfall by the time they reached the river, but when Narumi tasted the air, she could catch no current scents. It seemed Sasuke was right. There were a few stale smells of other teams, but they had obviously already moved on. The river was as good as deserted. With a relieved sigh, she followed the boys along the bank as Sasuke scouted for a good place to spend the night. Eventually, they came to a large boulder, with a smooth hollow beneath it forming a shallow cave. It was difficult to see, and too small for any of the older teams to be able to use it, which made it ideal for the three of them. Sasuke quickly set up some traps around it as a precaution, and then sighed. He gestured at Saburo. "You go in first, okay?" Saburo nodded, drawing a kunai in case he ran into any animal trying to use the hollow beneath the stone as a den. Then he dropped carefully to his hands and knees, and crawled through the small opening. There was a moment of silence as he peered around, and re-arranged himself so that his head was pointing towards the opening. "It'll be a bit of a tight fit, but other than that we're good." Narumi sighed, and crawled in eagerly after him. She was exhausted, and the idea of sleeping was so wonderful that the bare stone cave might as well have been a feather bed. Once inside, she carefully turned her head towards the entrance, and lay down on her side, facing Saburo, who was laying flat on his back. Sasuke crawled in after her, and she heard a faint rustling before he settled down on her other side. She relaxed as his back came to rest against hers, and she could feel the tension leave his muscles as well. Her forehead was resting against Saburo's shoulder, and when she pulled her feet up to curl up slightly, her knees brushed his leg. The three of them were snuggled quite closely together, and their body heat soon warmed the small hollow where they lay. Narumi yawned widely, her eyes fluttering closed as she fell asleep.

* * *

><p>Narumi whooped and splashed noisily into the clear water of the river. As the water closed over her, she was enveloped in the soft stillness of muffled sound and lack of scent that went with the world beneath the surface. Energetically, she turned a quick flip, glancing eagerly around the glittering riverbed. Not far off, she could see a small school of freshwater fish gliding lazily through the gentle current. With a fiendish grin, she twisted around, and shot after them as smoothly as if she were born in the water. The fish moved away from her, and she angled herself up so that she was chasing them to the surface. a few of them leaped out of the water, while the rest merely darted off downstream. The fish who had leapt out, didn't splash back into their aquatic home. Breaking the surface, Narumi looked around, treading water gently as her loose golden locks floated around her in a glittering swirl. The fish were pinned to a tree with Kunai on the opposite bank from Sasuke. Narumi thrust a fist excitedly into the air. "Alright!" Sasuke snorted and rolled his eyes. "I told you it would work, Dobe." Narumi glared indignantly at him, moving towards the riverbank with a swift kick of her legs. "Lucky guess!" Climbing out of the water, she shook herself off, slicking her hair back with one hand, and wringing the water from it gently. She wore only the bandages wrapped around her chest and a pair of black shorts, as getting her heavy outer clothing wet would mean being damp for the rest of the exam. Things did not dry quickly in a place with as little indirect sunlight as the forest of death.<p>

Sasuke had leapt over to the other bank to collect the fish when Saburo called out. "Fire's ready. Got any food yet?" Narumi snatched her clothes off the ground, pulling them back on hurriedly and braiding her hair up quickly. "Coming Saburo-kun!" She and Sasuke headed back to their campsite, where Saburo was squatting easily next to a fire, carefully whittling at some long, straight sticks with a kunai. Glancing up, he waved at them. "How many did you get?" Sasuke shrugged, holding up a string of fish on a piece of chakra wire. "Just three." Saburo nodded, and put away his kunai, handing out the sticks. Each of them carefully took a stick and a fish, and Narumi carefully skewered hers. Then they dug the sticks base into the ground so that they were leaning over the fire, allowing the fish to bake. The three of them sat around the fire, and Narumi drew her braid over her shoulder, so that it would dry more quickly in the heat of the fire. She was eyeing the fish hungrily when Saburo suddenly scrubbed a hand through his hair in a frustrated gesture. "Ah, mou! I can't believe this!" Narumi and Sasuke stared at the rosette. He noticed them, and shifted, shrugging a little. "Sorry, I was just thinking about the exam." Sasuke's stare hardened, and he tilted his head inquisitively. "What is it?" Saburo shrugged morosely. "Well, we have the scroll of earth now, but we lost our scroll of heaven. And its already the third day of the exam. This isn't going to be easy." Shifting, Saburo's eyes narrowed. "Especially since Orochimaru burned our old heaven scroll. The total number of teams that can pass has gone down by one. That lowers our chances." Sasuke grunted, hand unconsciously twitching towards his weapon pouch were he had concealed Dosu's earth scroll.

Narumi blinked, and then chortled. "Oh, is that all? We don't need to worry about that, we can just head straight for the tower." Sasuke and Saburo both stared at her blankly, and she chortled again, reaching back to fish around in her weapon pouch. With a quick movement, she held up none other than their original heaven scroll. Both boys stared, and Saburo jumped to his feet with a hiss of indrawn breath that could have been either surprise, or pain from his injured ribs. "Narumi-chan! How...?" She shrugged, easily replacing the scroll, though her face was smugly pleased with the success of her tactic. "I carry extra scrolls around with me. One on first aid, one on survival techniques, and a few blank ones. All colors. When I was fighting Orochimaru, I used henge on one of my light colored scrolls to make it look like the scroll of heaven, and made the scroll of heaven look like the blank scroll." She grinned widely, showing all her teeth. "The snake bastard never checked the scroll before he burned it, did he?" There was a long moment of silence, and then Saburo snatched her up with a whoop, and whirled around the clearing. "Narumi-chan, you're brilliant!" Narumi choked and flushed with embarrassed pleasure. "Saburo-kun! Your ribs!" Sasuke snorted at both of them. "Why didn't you tell us about this sooner, Dobe?" As Saburo set her down, she swayed dizzily. "You never asked." The Uchiha sighed heavily. "Fine. We'll head for the tower after we eat."

As they waded out of the bushes and into the small area of clear space around the tower, Narumi sighed in relief, rubbing her neck. It hadn't been easy getting there, whatever they'd said by the river. There had been a couple of traps set up by other teams around the tower that they'd had to be careful of, and when Sasuke had activated his sharingan to scout them out, he'd snatched at his neck as though the strange mark was paining him. But when asked about it, he insisted that it was nothing. It took them all night to make their way here. Saburo's body had finally given out on him sometime in the wee hours of the morning, and he was now leaning heavily against Sasuke, who had dragged the other boys arm across his shoulders, and was supporting him as they walked up to the tower. Large double doors were set into it's base, and a wide stone engawa circled it. Narumi trotted forward, blinking hard to clear the sleep from her eyes, and stepped up onto the engawa, glancing behind her to make sure the boys were following her. Saburo's head hung heavily forward, messy bangs flopping into his eyes and his movements hesitating as they moved. Sasuke didn't look much better, but he wouldn't let her help, insisting that the most able-bodied member of the team remain free to act if they should be attacked. Once she was assured that they were limping along behind her, she moved up to the doors. A paper slip was plastered across them, with the kanji for gate painted on it. Reaching out, she grabbed the handles of the two doors, and wrenched them open. She was ready to get her team under cover, somewhere safe to rest and recuperate.

Moving forward into the tower, she looked around in confusion. The doors swung shut behind the boys as they followed her into the center of the room more slowly. It was a large, bare room, oddly like the indoor training floors used for taijutsu spars, with two long balconies running down the long walls to overlook the floor, and a large poster hanging on the far wall across from the doors. "No one's here." Saburo grunted, and then pulled away from Sasuke, wincing as he stood on his own, and then smiling slightly at his teammate, though his brows were furrowed in pain and exhaustion. "Thanks, Sasuke. I'm alright now." Sasuke eyed the other boy for a long minute, and then nodded. The two of them moved up to flank Narumi, and Saburo cocked his head back to stare at the calligraphy hanging on the wall. Murmuring under his breath, he read out the message. "If you do not possess heaven, gain knowledge and be prepared. If you do not possess earth, run through the fields and seek strength. If you open both heaven and earth scrolls, dangerous paths become safe paths. This is the secret of...I don't recognize the last kanji." Narumi blinked at the rosette, tilting her head uncertainly and idly stroking her braid. "I don't get it, Saburo-kun." Saburo looked over at her, a determined expression on his face. "I think it's probably referring to the scrolls. We're probably supposed to open the both of them." Reaching back, Narumi pulled the two scrolls from her weapons pouch, releasing the henge she'd placed on both of them. Saburo stretched out a hand, and took the scroll of heaven, staring warily down at it. The three of them formed a rough half circle, with Sasuke standing just behind Saburo and Narumi, his body tense and ready to spring. Narumi and Saburo glanced at each other, and the rosette nodded. Narumi locked her jaw in apprehension, and then mirrored the movement. "Well then, let's open 'em!" Sliding a thumb under the loose end of the parchment, she peeled it up at the same moment Saburo did the same with the heaven scroll.

The two of them pulled the scrolls out, and Narumi blinked down at the spidery, intricate brushwork of some sort of fuuin. Frowning, she stared down at it in surprise, wondering why it looked vaguely familiar. "What?" The scrolling spiral of the fuuin surrounded a single character, the kanji for person. Just as she opened her mouth to ask what they were supposed to do now, the circle of paper inside the fuuin's circle swelled up into a dome. The top of the dome seemed to puncture, and smoke billowed up from it. Sasuke swore tightly. "Kuso! This is an inscription for kuchiyose no jutsu!" Narumi's eyes widened. That was it, a kuchiyose! Starting violently, she flung it away from her. At the same moment, Sasuke snapped out. "Saburo, let go of that!" Shocked, Saburo half turned and threw it after the scroll of earth. The two scrolls flew through the air towards the far side of the room, trailing smoke as they went. As they landed there was the familiar chakra explosion of something appearing or being summoned. Falling back into a defensive position, Narumi moved back beside Sasuke, the two of them standing just in front of Saburo, covering for the injured member of their team. But before Narumi could pull her weapon, a familiar figure appeared out of the slowly clearing smoke. Eyes widening in delight, she straightened. "Ikuye-sensei!"

The chuunin in front of them was as familiar as the sandaime himself. Her thick brown hair was still pulled back in the same pony tail, and her dark eyes were as kind as ever. She even wore the same thick blue dress under her chuunin vest. Her eyes fixed on Narumi as she smiled at the three of them with gentle pride. "Hello, Narumi-chan. It's been a long time." Lighting up, Narumi dashed forward and flung her arms around Ikuye-sensei's slender waist in a tight hug, closing her eyes in contentment as Ikuye-sensei's warm scent washed over her, bringing a sense of comfort and safety. A slender hand came to rest gently on her back, quietly rubbing circles between her shoulder blades. "Are you glad to see me?" Narumi nodded vigorously, loosening her arms to lean back and grin up at the academy teacher. Saburo's voice came from behind them, hoarse and strained. "Hold on, what is this?" Ikuye-sensei looked up, and ran her eyes carefully over the two boys. "Sorry, Saburo-kun, Sasuke-kun. It seems like the three of you have gone through a lot of trouble." Sasuke shook his head slightly. "Never mind that, how did you come out of a kuchiyose scroll?" Ikuye-sensei's face became serious. "We chuunin are responsible for welcoming the examinees after the end of the second exam. " Narumi dropped her arms, stepping back a bit as Ikuye-sensei slipped into her professional-mode. Ikuye-sensei's eyes softened as she looked down at the girl, and a hint of pride entered her voice. " Congratulations on passing. And it's only the beginning of the fourth day. You've done well." Narumi flushed with pride, tilting her chin up and shooting a grin over her shoulder at her teammates.

Ikuye-sensei opened her mouth as if to say something, hesitated, and closed it again with a shake of her head and a fond smile. "Since you got here early, you'll have today and tomorrow to rest. There are rooms higher up in the tower for you to use, I'll show you there." Sasuke grunted. "Is it possible to have an iryou-nin look at Saburo? He's cracked a rib or something." Instantly Ikuye-sensei went to the boy, resting her hands on his shoulders, her expression becoming fiercely protective. "What? What happened? Are you in pain?" Saburo's expression turned bewildered and meek. "Uh...well a little..." Ikuye-sensei narrowed her eyes and looked at the other two. "Now that I look at you, you could probably all use a quick trip to an iryou-nin. There's one stationed upstairs to take care of any major injuries. I'll take you up there right now." Turning, she leapt up to one of the balconies, and headed for a door at the far end of it. Narumi and her teammates followed her obediently as she strode through the door, down a hall, and up a winding stair to the fourth floor. When Ikuye-sensei led them into a clean, white room with a white table, they weren't surprised to see the iryou-nin in his white robes jump and stare. "I have three examinees that need to be seen. One with a possible cracked rib." The iryou-nin cleared his throat and shifted his attention to the three battered genin behind her. "Very well. Which of you has the injured ribs?" Saburo raised a hand, and the iryou-nin gestured briskly towards the table. "You first then. Sit here please." Saburo moved forward and braced his hands on the table, wincing as he levered himself up to sit on the surface. The iryou-nin stepped up in front of the boy, lifting hands surrounded by the soft green light of healing chakra. "Shirt off please."

Saburo nodded, pulling his shirt over his head. The iryou-nin raised an eyebrow at the extensive bandages wrapping around his chest, but didn't say anything as he laid his hands gently on the boys chest, running them slowly down his ribs. The mans other brow shot up, and he murmured under his breath. "Well. You're quite lucky. You've managed to fracture three ribs, and break a floating rib. Luckily, it's a clean break, and there are no loose shards of bone. That, plus the fact that your chest was wrapped means that you are still fairly uninjured all things considered. I'll mend the bones for you, but you'll be quite tender in this area for the next week or so. Try to take it easy if possible." So saying, he brought his hands together low on Saburo's right side. "This might hurt a bit." Saburo's face suddenly paled, and his jaw clenched as the man set to work. But he made no sound. Narumi winced in sympathy as she watched him. After a while, the iryou-nin pulled away, glancing at the other two. "Alright, let's have a look at you two." He gave them both a quick examination, and shook his head. "Well, you all seem to have taken quite the beating." Reaching out, he laid a hand on Narumi's head, eyes severe. "Young lady, you're lucky not to have a concussion. Seems like someone certainly did their damnedest to give you one." Carefully, he touched glowing green fingertips to her right eyelid. "This will take care of that bruise. Normally I'd leave it alone, but a black-eye as spectacular as this could affect your field of vision, and would severely disadvantage you in the exams." After a moment, he pulled back, voice wry. "Other than that, all of you seem to be approaching a state of chakra exhaustion, the boys more so than the girl. On top of that, you're physically exhausted as well. My advice is to go eat a good meal, preferably with red meat included, clean up, and get a good nights rest. Other than that, I'm afraid you just need time to heal."

Narumi and the boys mumbled their assent, and exchanged a glance. Narumi was wondering if they should mention the odd mark on Sasuke's neck, or her temporary inability to call on her chakra, though that had faded away sometime during the night they'd spent by the river. Sasuke shook his head slightly, and the three of them thanked the iryou-nin without mentioning either. Ikuye-sensei led them out of the make-shift examination room, sighing. "Well, I guess that means a meal's in order. I'll show you where you'll be sleeping, and then take you down to where you can eat." Narumi nodded, grinning up at her first teacher. "Right. Thanks, Ikuye-sensei!" The older kunoichi ruffled her hair with a fond, sisterly smile. "Come on you three." Taking them back down to the third floor, and out into the circular corridor. Doors were spaced along both sides, set fairly far apart from each other. She led them around to a door set on the outside wall, and reached into her pocket. Pulling out a key, she unlocked the door, and opened it, showing them a small entry way, with two sliding doors set across from each other, and another door at the far end. "There's two rooms and a bathroom. The temporary arrangements are set up so that teams don't need to split up at night." Pulling the door closed again, she gave the key to Sasuke, who slipped into his pocket. Then she took them back around to the stairs, and down to the second floor. This floor appeared to be all one room, with a few tables, each with three seats, were spaced around the floor, and a long counter set with food was built along one wall. "They'll bring food here regularly, come and get it whenever you need it." Laying a hand on Narumi's shoulder, she looked over the three of them. "I have to go now. Listen to me, you three look after each other, and don't pick fights with the other teams. Got it?" Narumi rolled her eyes. "Mou, Ikuye-sensei! We're not kids anymore, we're shinobi. We can handle ourselves." Ikuye-sensei smiled a little, and shook her head. "Yes, I know." Leaning down, she kissed Narumi's forehead gently. "Rest while you can." Looking up, she fixed the two boys with a serious gaze. "All of you." With that, she vanished in a swirl of smoke and leaves.

The three of them stood there for a minute, just looking at each other. Then Narumi shook her head, and bounded towards the food. "Come on, let's get some food!" She was mildly disappointed at the lack of ramen, but hungry enough not to fuss about it. Snatching up a bowl and some chopsticks, she scooped herself some hot rice, and wandered down the table to a plate of beef strips. Reaching out, she snagged five pieces, laying them carefully on top of her rice. A bowl of eggs was placed next to the beef, and she grabbed one, cracking it and dropping the raw egg over her beef. Throwing out the shell, she grabbed a glass of tea in her free hand, and went for a table near a window. Setting down her bowl and cup, she pulled out her chair, looking up. The boys were getting their food a bit more slowly than she was. Flopping down into her chair, she grabbed her chopsticks, and stirred up her food, mixing the egg into the rice, and dashing some soy sauce over the whole thing. By the time she set the bottle back down on the table, Sasuke and Saburo were on their way to join her. As she started to shovel beef into her mouth, the boys sat down. They both had similar dishes to her own, though Sasuke had replaced the egg with shrimp, and Saburo had more beef than she did in his. The three of them were so hungry that they didn't really talk much, silently gulping down their food and peering over each others shoulders, warily guarding each others backs. Narumi went back to the counter to refill her bowl three times, surpassing both the boys in the amount of food she consumed. Normally they would have commented on her bottomless stomach, but today they merely sat quietly, waiting for her to finish. When she finally cleaned the last few grains of rice from her fourth bowl, she sighed in contentment, and nodded to them. In unison, the three of them stood up and headed for the door.

Narumi was just reaching to open it when a familiar scent, hot, spicy, and masculine hit her nose. She bristled, backing up a step as the door slid open. Sasuke and Saburo shifted a bit, hands hovering hear holsters as the three of them stared. Teruyoshi of Sunagakure stood in the doorway, regarding the three of them with mild surprise. He was uninjured, and clean, looking completely at ease. Crossing his arms across his chest, he leaned against the doorway. "Yo. So you guys made it through?" Sasuke lowered his chin, glaring at the older genin. "Aa, we did." Teruyoshi hummed thoughtfully. "Hmm. That makes four teams that have already passed, and it's only the third day. How surprising." Narumi cocked her head at him, confused. "Who else has passed so far?" Teruyoshi leaned his head back a little. "Let's see. There was my brothers and I, and you. Then two other teams from Konohagakure, one with two girls and the Hyuuga heir, and the other with three unknowns. I think one of them introduced himself to you guys at the start of the first exam. Grey ponytail, glasses, bit of an oddball." Saburo sighed. "That would be Kabuto-san." Teruyoshi shrugged carelessly, pushing away from the wall. "Well, I don't really care." Stepping forward, he caught Narumi's chin, tilting her head back and to the side, frowning slightly. "More importantly, what happened to your face, Beautiful?" Before she could answer, his eyes rose to focus on the far wall, voice mild and amused. "Oi, oi! Relax a little, boys." Saburo had grabbed his wrist, green eyes hard. Sasuke hadn't bothered to be so subtle. His kunai rested at the base of the Suna-nin's throat. Still Teruyoshi didn't tense or release his hold on Narumi's face. "You _kids_ gonna tell me what happened to the girl?" All three of their scents were spiked with subtle aggression, and it was making the hair on the back of Narumi's neck stand up. She remembered Ikuye-sensei's warning not to fight with other teams, and felt like smacking something. Instead she spoke up.

"I'm fine. We ran into the oto-nin is all." Her slightly irritated voice brought the attention of all the boys back to her. Her teammates seemed to relax a little when her eyes flicked between them, and they both backed off, releasing the foreign shinobi. Teruyoshi's scent lost most of its aggression, and his eyes narrowed slightly as he tipped her face to the other side, eyes flicking from scrapes to cuts to bruises. His voice remained light and teasing despite his oddly serious expression. "Looks like you took quite a beating." Narumi shrugged uncomfortably. "I guess. But I managed to get the guy before that, so it wasn't all bad." Teruyoshi shook his head slightly, a faint smirk tugging at his lips. "So, who won the battle?" Indignantly she jerked her chin out of his hold, crossing her arms over her chest. "We did of course! It's how we got our scroll!" Teruyoshi's smirk blossomed into an all out grin, and he threw his head back in a laugh. "You're quite the spitfire, aren't you Beautiful?" Narumi opened her mouth to reply, but before she could, Saburo grabbed her hand and pulled her around the Suna-nin, glaring at the other boy out of the corner of his eye. "Come on, Narumi. We're already finished eating aren't we?" Sasuke grunted, glaring at the older boy as he followed the two of them out. Narumi looked back over her shoulder at him as her teammates pulled her down the hall. Teruyoshi watched them go for a minute, a smile still hovering about his mouth, before he turned to saunter casually into the dining hall. Then she turned back to look at the stiff shoulders of her teammates. They didn't seem too happy. She sighed, quickening her pace, and grabbing their hands, so that she was leading them back towards the stairs. "Come on then. I call first dibs on the shower." Sasuke snorted at her, though his usual jab lacked its bite. "Dobe." She stuck out her tongue at him, pulling the two of them up the stairs and back down the hall to their door. Then she stopped and looked at Sasuke expectantly. He rolled his eyes at her, pulling out the key and unlocking the door.

Dropping their hands, Narumi moved into the entrance way, tugging off her combat sandals with a sigh. The air felt cool and refreshing against her sweaty feet, now free of the close confines of her sandals for the first time in days. Leaving her shoes near the entrance, she looked at the boys as the door closed behind them. When the door clicked shut, both boys relaxed, tension that had become so customary she hadn't even noticed it leaving their bodies, and she could feel herself doing the same. "Which room do you guys want?" Saburo moved forward and peered into both the bedrooms, before swinging the door of the room on the right wide open. "This one has two beds. Sasuke and I can stay here." Sasuke nodded agreement, and Narumi grinned, scampering down the hall and into the bathroom. "Well then, later!" Closing the door behind her, she flicked on the light. The bathroom was well outfitted, a small washing machine situated in the corner opposite the sink, toothbrushes and toothpaste on the side of the sink itself, and a set of shelves on one wall, with three yukata neatly folded and laid in individual baskets along with thick towels. One of the baskets also contained a small hairbrush, and she eyed it appreciatively. Moving quickly, she slipped out of her clothes, and undid her braid, shaking her tangled locks out and looking herself over in the mirror. Plainly speaking, she looked awful. Her face was no longer swollen or discolored, but it was still scuffed, scraped and cut. As she had feared, large purple-red bruises like Saburo's wrapped around her shoulders and across her chest. Frowning, she turned around, craning her neck to look over her shoulder, and pulling her hair out of the way. Sure enough, a matching band of bruising was visible across her shoulder blades. Shaking her head, she silently thanked the kami that her heavy jacket was long enough to hide all of it. Ikuye-sensei would have freaked out if she'd seen this. Absently, she made to shove a hand through her hair, and winced when her fingers caught and yanked at the tangled mass. Beyond being tangled, her hair was matted with blood, dirt, and sweat. She frowned at it, and then shrugged, scooping up her clothing, and shoving it into the small washer. Carefully she set aside her weapons pouch and holster on the top of the shelves, starting the small washer before going through the door to the shower and bath.

She turned on the bathwater, filling the tub with hot water. Once that was done, she turned aside to the stool sitting in front of the shower head. A shelf under the shower head held bottles of shampoo and conditioner, along with a bar of soap. Sitting heavily, she wet herself down, watching in exhausted mesmerization as streams of water that ran brown and black with dried blood and dirt washed down her body, swirling away down the drain at her feet. Shaking her head after a minute, she turned off the water, reaching for the soap, and scrubbing hard at her body. After she'd made sure that she'd lathered up all over, she rinsed again. The water was cleaner this time, and she repeated the process until only soap suds were being washed from her skin. Then she started grimly in on the mess of her hair, scrubbing shampoo into it mercilessly. This also took some repeating, but eventually it was only tangles that knotted her hair. She eyed the bottle of conditioner, and then snorted. It wasn't like either of the boys would be using much of that, if any. So she unscrewed the top, and poured a good half the bottle out on her hair. Carefully, she worked her fingers through the now slick hair from the bottom up, until it hung in clean, tangle free strands against her shoulders and back. Sighing in relief, she rinsed herself off one last time, and stumbled into the bath, laying back and soaking. She sat there for a while, staring at the ceiling, thinking hard about the events in the forest of death. Honestly, Orochimaru scared her. Scared her badly. The only single being she'd ever been more afraid of was the Kyuubi itself. And when Sasuke had first woken up, when those strange marks had crawled across his body, leaking tainted chakra as they went, he had felt far too similar to Orochimaru. Uneasily, she shook those thoughts away, sitting up in the water. That couldn't be right. Shoving her unease about that strange mark away, she stood up, and left the shower room, grabbing a towel and drying herself off quickly. Wrapping the Yukata around her body, she noticed that her clothes were also done washing. Taking the hairbrush, her weapons pouch and holster, and her wet clothing, she left the bathroom.

She went to her own room first, looking around. A bed was pushed against one wall, and a drying rack was against the other. The outside wall had a window that overlooked the forest of death, and the mid-morning light was streaming through it. The forest looked almost benign like this. She snorted, shaking her head and dropping her weapons pouches on the bed, before draping her clothes across the clothes rack to dry. Then she wandered across the hall, slowly brushing her hair as she went. She didn't bother to knock when she came to the boys room, just opened the door and went in. Their room was identical to her own, except the drying rack was larger, and set across from the window, as there were two beds pushed against the walls. Saburo and Sasuke had sat on the floor and were leaning back against their beds talking in low voices when she came in. They both looked up at her, and she blinked sleepily at them. "The baths open." They exchanged looks, and Saburo waved a hand at the Uchiha. "You go ahead, Sasuke. I don't mind." Sasuke nodded once, and then stood. Narumi moved out of his way as he left the room, heading for the bathroom she'd just vacated. Sighing, she moved over to sit on his bed so that she was across from Saburo. "What were you and the teme talking about?" Saburo shrugged, tone casual. "Nothing much. What took you so long in the bath?" She mirrored his gesture, though her voice was laced with annoyance. "Took forever to get clean." Saburo murmured acknowledgment, and for a moment they lapsed into silence, broken only by the soothingly rhythmic sounds of Narumi brushing through her wet hair. After a while, she put down the brush, tossing her hair over shoulders, and fixing her eyes on Saburo as she lifted her hands to begin parting it. "I've been thinking about that mark on Sasuke's neck."

Saburo looked up sharply. "What about it?" Narumi shrugged uneasily, fingers deftly braiding her hair as she absently allowed her muscle memory to take over the chore. "Well, you said that Orochimaru gave it to him right?" Saburo nodded, and she shifted uneasily, the movement of her hands slowing. "After you passed out...when Sasuke woke up, he was acting strange." Saburo furrowed his brow at her, and she bit her lip, tying off her braid and letting her hands fall to her lap to fiddle with the hairbrush. "He was leaking scary chakra, and there were these black marks moving under his skin, all over his body. I think they came from the mark. He was really scary Saburo-kun. He broke Zaku's arms, and he laughed while he did it." Saburo's jaw was tight, and his eyes were somewhat incredulous. Narumi took a shuddering breath. "That's not all either. He said...he told me that 'that person' gave him power. I think he was talking about Orochimaru." Gritting her teeth, she met her teammates gaze. "I think we should tell Kakashi-sensei about this Saburo-kun. I have a bad feeling about that mark." Saburo frowned, looking down. Finally he nodded. "Next time we see him then. But...let's not tell anyone else, okay?" Narumi blinked at him, cocking her head questioningly, and the rosette sighed, scratching his cheek idly with his finger. "You said he was acting strange right? Narumi, you and I may know Sasuke's alright, but if we're not careful, he could get pulled out of the exams for this. He wouldn't want that." Narumi hesitated, and then nodded. "Yeah, you're right." There was a moment of silence, broken by Narumi's wide yawn. Rubbing at her eyes, she stood, hairbrush clasped loosely in her free hand. "Alright then, I'm going to go get some sleep. I'm dead tired." Saburo rolled his eyes and snorted. "You better not snore, Narumi-chan." Huffing indignantly at him she stuck out her tongue. "'Course I don't snore!" Slipping across the hall, she closed her own door behind her, pulled thick curtains over the window, and flopped onto her bed. She was asleep before her head ever hit the pillow.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** _Hello all. _

_To Zandamh, it's good to hear you're still enjoying the story! I was excited to hear from you, and am very grateful you've taken the time to give me another review. It's always fun to hear from someone again! To jayley, yes, it was somewhat hypocritical of Saburo ridicule Sasuke like that. However, I did this on purpose. I wondered if I should explain it last time, but I didn't want to spoil the developments I was planning for this chapter, as this is where things are really beginning to diverge from Cannon. However, now that those are out in the open, I'll be explaining below. I hope the reasoning will be satisfactory (^-^'). To Aya-Mikage2002, it was lovely to hear from you. I'm happy that you like the story so much, and I cannot tell you how excited I was to hear that you would try to post more reviews for me on future chapters. Truthfully, I may have squealed...just a tiny bit. Ahem. (^/^). I will definitely be continuing the story beyond the chuunin exams, as I really enjoy writing this story. It's quite relaxing for me, and I look forward to working on it every day, which is why the chapters keep turning out so long. To all three of you, again, many thanks for your time spent giving me the lovely reviews. They always brighten my day. _

_Alright, this chapter wraps up the important events in the Forest of Death. So then, I suppose I'd better start with addressing the issue of Saburo. As jayley pointed out, he was somewhat hypocritical during the previous chapter. There were a couple of reasons for this. One, he is still young, and as the weakest member of his team, he is used to the others taking care of situations like this. Two, he was feeling helpless, terrified, and angry at himself, and he lashed out at someone else in the heat of the moment to relieve the stress of those emotions. Granted, he is a shinobi, and should know better, but he's also a kid who's still in the process of growing up. Anyway, I had him react like this for a very important reason. As I'm sure you've all noticed, Sakura is pretty useless in the cannon until Shippuuden. I wanted to kickstart Saburo's growth much earlier than that. So I put him into a situation that would force that. After Narumi passed out, he did pull himself together enough to fight with Sasuke against Orochimaru. But he wasn't much help, as he is still pretty weak. In the end, even though Orochimaru severely injured him, he didn't consider him enough of a threat to even knock out after he gave Sasuke the curse seal. The frustration over his own helplessness, anger at his weakness, and guilt both over not being able to protect his teammates, and yelling at Sasuke are a potent mix of powerful emotions that have no outlet, which is important. Anyway, while he is carrying his teammates to the hideout he's found them, Narumi wakes up. Her interaction with him gives him a direction for those emotions, and effectively turns them into an incredibly strong drive to get stronger and protect his comrades that equals the drive original Sakura had to get stronger in cannon after Sasuke's betrayal. She also unknowingly points him towards the correct path to become stronger by reminding him of his chakra control. This is what causes him to try and use his precise control of chakra as a weapon during his fight with Zaku. Admittedly, he lost, but in his defense, he had a fractured rib at the time. _

_Because I would wonder about this if I were reading the story instead of writing it, there's a reason that Narumi's own eardrums didn't burst from the sound attacks, even though Lee's did. Simply put, it wasn't aimed at her. I put her senses about on level with Kiba's, maybe a little higher, and in the anime, he watches matches with sound-nin where sound attacks are used, but comes to no harm. So even though it was painful for her to hear it, it didn't harm her. _

_Regarding Narumi's battle with Zaku, I realize it may seem a bit off that she was capable of fighting with Orochimaru as well as she did, but lost so miserably to Zaku. However, remember that she is already exhausted. Add to that, the gogyo fuuin (five element/point/direction seal) has been placed on her. I looked into this, and apparently the original use of the thing is to restrain the opponents chakra, and knock them out for a certain period of time, say a day. However, when placed on top of the seal of the Kyuubi, the odd numbered points of the seal on top of the even numbered points of the original seal screw around with Narumi's body, and her control of both her own and the Kyuubi's chakra. So, even though she woke up early due to the healing powers of Kyuubi, she was still under chakra restriction, which caused spikes of pain when she tried to draw on her chakra. Also, her body was trying to adjust to the strain of the two competing seals, causing more dulled, constant pain, disorientation, and heavy stress on her body. So all in all, she was doing good._

_I cut out the scene where Inori's team would have come to the rescue, because no matter how I tried it, it came out awkward. Besides, unlike Sakura, Narumi is not the kind of girl who would calmly accept multiple rescues with her rescuers repeatedly becoming casualties, no matter how desperately she might actually need the rescue. However, I did keep them present for Sasuke's awakening. What happened is that they showed up just an instant or two before Sasuke came out of his curse-seal coma. They probably would have tried coming to her rescue if Sasuke hadn't turned into 'mad-purple-chakra-shinobi-of-glowy-curse-mark-doom' on them (Don't laugh. You know you were thinking it). Lee's team was present at that time too. The reason for this, is that I want the Konoha twelve to be aware of Sasuke's...less than stellar side. Saburo and Narumi may trust him either way, but the other five who saw that certainly will have some amount of doubt or unease towards him. _

_Lastly, the reason that they were able to get to the tower so quickly. Narumi has a bit more field-wisdom than Naruto did at her age. Remember, she knew she was no match for Orochimaru when she went up against him. So when she put the scroll in her weapons pouch, she henged it while it was out of sight, hoping that when he did defeat her and try to take the scroll, he wouldn't notice what she'd done. She even goes so far as to try to stop him when he starts to take the wrong scroll, trying to ensure he believes its the real thing. And Orochimaru, being an arrogant, blood-line focused and overly confident brand of stupid, never thinks that 'children', particularly dead-last 'children' would think to trick him, and burns the thing before he can ever realize he has the wrong scroll. Thus, victory is achieved._

_And of course, any odd reactions of team seven in the tower? They may be out of danger for the moment, but the exams are still ongoing, and they've had to be hyper-alert for a good while, just to stay alive. Their danger senses are all still in overdrive, and the people they would fully relax around are very few in number even at this point. For now, they probably are only going to feel safe in their own little suite, where they can watch each others backs quietly, and rest up. _

_Hope the explanations helped, and weren't too long. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me! Please do read and review! _


	10. Preliminaries

Narumi stood respectfully at the head of her team. Just behind her was Saburo, with Sasuke behind him. To her left was Kira, standing confidently at the head of her team, and to her right was Nobuye Hyuuga, leader of Rock Lee's team. In the end, all nine rookies, the sand brothers, Lee's team, Kabuto's team, and the oto-nin had all passed the second exam.

All the teams were lined up at attention in front of the jounin sensei for each team, and the chuunin proctors, including Ikuye-sensei. Anko cleared her throat, and spoke roughly to them.

"First off, congratulations on passing the second exam."

Behind her Sasuke muttered, just loud enough to reach his teammates ears.

"I have a bad feeling about this."

Anko interrupted the slight murmurings between teams, voice steady. "Normally, the third exam would be explained to you at this point. But things are a little different this year."

"An unusually large number of examinees have reached the third stage of the exams. Therefore, according to regulations, we will hold preliminary matches."

Narumi started, and Saburo cursed under his breath behind her. All the genin examinees were muttering in surprise and irritation, and she could smell their tension rising. The Oto-nin and Shika's team were both particular on edge, probably because they'd only just gotten in, and had had no time to rest.

A chuunin suddenly stepped forward, taking the center stage position in front of them. His hitae-ate was fixed to a headband that had been tied over limp brown hair, and his eyes were slightly sunken, dark bags of exhaustion clear and pronounced beneath them. He wore the standard issue chuunin uniform of Konohagakure, and a senbon dangled loosely from the corner of his mouth. The man cleared his throat, and coughed into his fist. Narumi wrinkled her nose, eyeing him carefully.

"Allow me to explain. I am Gekkou Hayate, the judge for the preliminary matches." He coughed again, and then continued. "Those of you who win your battle in the preliminaries will advance to the third exam. The rest will stop here."

Inori leaned forward, eyes narrowing indignantly. "What do you mean, preliminary matches?"

Kira joined him indignantly. "Yeah, why can't we just start the third exam now?"

The proctor sighed, looking particularly unenthusiastic and bored as he answered. "The first and second exam must have been too easy this year. I don't really know. But the point is, we have too many examinees left."

Hayate shrugged his shoulders carelessly. "There are a lot of guests who come to see the third exam, you know. We just can't afford to have all that many matches. Also there is a limited amount of time available. Really, if anyone wants to quit after hearing the explanation, it would make things go much more smoothly for us."

Narumi grinned fiercely as the other genin muttered around her. Then her smile faltered a bit, and she glanced sympathetically at Inori's team. This would be much harder going for them, since they hadn't had any rest.

Hayate rubbed the back of his head, speaking up again. "Oh, by the way. I forgot to mention this, but from here on out, the matches will be one on one. So even if you quit, it won't affect your teammates."

Behind her, Narumi heard a subdued grunt, and looked over her shoulder to see Sasuke clutching at his neck. Saburo was eyeing him in concern as well.

"Sasuke, you gonna be okay?" Sasuke's gaze hardened, and he nodded sharply. "I'll be fine."

Saburo looked back at Narumi, and she met his gaze firmly, nodding once. If Sasuke said he'd be fine, then she would believe him. Saburo sighed, and turned back around in line.

Just as he did, Kabuto raised his hand down the line. He smiled cheerfully up at proctors addressing them in a mild tone.

"I'll be quitting here then."

Hayate blinked, glancing down at the clipboard in his hand. "Let's see...Kabuto Yakushi of Konohagakure, right? You may leave then."

Kabuto nodded at the chuunin, and then turned and quietly left the room. Narumi watched him, wondering why the faint unease that had plagued her ever since they assembled didn't leave with him.

Hayate coughed into his fist again, the expression on his gaunt face unchanging. "Well then, I assume there are no more examinees wishing to retire?"

When no one answered him, he straightened a little. "Then let's start the preliminary matches, shall we? These will be one on one matches, and it will be live combat. No rules. You fight until one opponent dies, is rendered unconscious, or surrenders."

He coughed again, and then resumed speaking. "If you don't want to die, it's better to withdraw now. However, if I declare a match to be over, that's it. I may stop you to prevent unnecessary deaths."

Turning around, he pointed to the back wall. An enormous sculpture of two arms wearing mesh guards, with the hands brought together in a simple hand sign, was built into the wall. Above them was an enormous screen.

"This electric bulletin board will randomly select and display the names of the fighters for each match." Looking back at them, he leaned his head back a little. "We'll start now."

Narumi craned her head back, staring up at the board in unison with the other genin, her stomach alive with butterflies. The screen came alive, names flashing across its surface in bright yellow letters too fast to follow. When they stopped, Narumi's eyes widened. The names on the screens were both familiar ones.

Sasuke Uchiha vs. Dosu.

Worriedly, she looked back. Sasuke was smirking confidently up at the screen, and his fingers tightened on his neck. Dosu, on the other hand, was grimly apprehensive.

"Those whose names were displayed, step up."

Sasuke and Dosu both moved up in front of the man, facing each other. Dosu was stiff and determined, eyes hard. Sasuke regard the older man cooly, his stance confident and relaxed.

Dosu growled at him. "I'll be taking revenge for Zaku's arms, Uchiha." Sasuke shrugged carelessly. "If you can, you mean."

Hayate ignored them both, waving a careless hand at the other genin. "If the non-participants will clear the floor? You can watch from the viewing balconies." Without a word, the other genin broke formation, drifting apart as they all headed for the stairs leading up to the two separate balconies.

Narumi hesitated, wanting to say something to Sasuke. Then she shook her head, and followed Saburo up to the balcony on the right. They both climbed up the stairs quickly, keeping an eye on the other genin around them. Inori's team, Lee's team, and Kira's team had also joined them on this balcony. The Oto team, the Suna team, and Kabuto's two teammates had taken the other.

As the teams spread out, the jounin sensei headed across the floor towards the stairs, splitting up themselves as each headed to their team. Kakashi strolled over and stopped behind Sasuke, murmuring something to him. Sasuke smirked confidently over his shoulder at his sensei and made some sort of reply.

Narumi leaned over the railing, braid dangling over her shoulder as she stared at the two of them. Kakashi-sensei suddenly vanished with a quick swirl of smoke. Narumi jumped slightly, whipping her head around to look back at him as his scent suddenly reappeared behind her. The jounin lifted his hand in a casual wave, though his eye flicked over them both quickly. "Yo."

Narumi spun around and ran over to him, practically bouncing on the balls of her feet in agitation. "Kakashi-sensei!" Saburo stepped up beside her, his face worried, and his voice low. "Sensei, it's about Sasuke-" Kakashi held up a hand casually to stop them. "I know about the curse seal."

Narumi blinked up at him, surprised. His eye softened, and he laid a hand gently on both their heads, ruffling their hair. "Don't worry. Sasuke will be fine." Then he turned them both gently around, his voice lightly teasing. "Now, aren't you going to cheer for your teammate?"

Narumi shifted uncertainly, and then moved back to the railing, folding her arms over it and dropping her chin on her arms, eyes fixed on the Uchiha below her. Saburo stood beside her, fists resting lightly on the rail, his knuckles white with apprehension.

Hayate glanced back and forth between Sasuke and Dosu, and then lifted his hands slowly. "Begin." Dosu shifted, his gravelly voice relaxed and darkly pleased. "Let's go then, Uchiha-kun." Sasuke's brows snapped down, and he growled irately at the oto-nin, before charging across the space separating them.

Dosu hopped, monkey-like, out of the line of Sasuke's charge at the last minute. As the Oto-nin lifted his arm, Sasuke spun around, launching a volley of shuriken and kunai at the man. Dosu frowned slightly, bringing his arm around and using the metal amplifier to knock away the shuriken.

Sasuke smirked triumphantly as Dosu changed his block to catch the last kunai. Narumi frowned, wondering why he was so pleased about the enemy blocking an attack. And then the exploding tag wrapped around the kunai handle went off. Dosu let out a frustrated cry as the explosion enveloped him.

After a moment, Dosu stumbled backwards out of the dirty cloud of smoke. The amplifier on his arm was badly damaged, twisted and broken, and Dosu was holding a hand to one ear, glaring at Sasuke murderously.

Sasuke smirked at him, apparently more than pleased with himself. "If that amplifier is your most dangerous weapon, all I have to do is destroy it." Dosu spat angrily at the boy, dropping his bloody arm to his side and glaring at the younger genin. "Damn brat!"

Behind her Narumi heard Kakashi-sensei mutter. "Well done. Those Oto-nin are arrogant. They rely to heavily on their sound manipulation abilities. Once that is taken away, they're virtually helpless." Narumi lit up, punching the air and whooping triumphantly. "Kick his butt, Teme!"

Down in the arena, Sasuke was doing just that. Dosu was agile, but his speed, strength, and technique were under-developed. His style of movement specialized in dodging, and wide swinging attacks that would bring his arm in range for the use of his sound techniques. Without those, he could not hit Sasuke.

Sasuke spun around him, obviously superior despite Dosu's greater size, and the pain of the mark on Sasuke's shoulder. The Uchiha smirked at his opponent, slamming a solid back-fist into the side of the Oto-nins head, and knocking him sideways. Dosu grunted, turning the stumble into a hopping twist that brought him back around to face the boy.

Sasuke frowned, glaring at the Oto-nin, and hesitating, his body stiffening for a moment. Narumi was a bit confused, and glanced at Saburo questioningly. From the look on his face, he knew what was up. However she doubted that either boy would tell her.

Sasuke's hesitation lasted only a second. After that, he pulled himself together, and sprinted towards Dosu, engaging the man in a taijutsu battle of ever increasing speed. Dosu stumbled back, doing his best to block the attacks, and striking clumsily at Sasuke. The Uchiha spun lightly around his opponent, delivering punishing blows all across the older mans body, and easily dodging the wide swinging motions of his strikes.

Then Sasuke crouched suddenly as Dosu's fist shot over his head. Smirking up at the other man, he murmured softly to him. "You know, I've had just about enough of you." With those words, he launched himself up, driving a savage punch into Dosu's throat. Dosu choked, eyes widening, and there was a long silence as Sasuke darted back out of range.

Dosu appeared frozen, glaring in frustration at Sasuke. He choked again, and dark red spots began to spread across the bandages covering his mouth. Clutching at his throat, he stumbled to his knees. Sasuke smirked at him again. "Had enough yet, Oto?"

Dosu growled, and uttered a few mangled noises, before surging back to his feet. Sasuke rolled his eyes and lifted his hands, voice cool. "Have it your way." Flashing through a familiar sequence of signs, he launched a Katon at Dosu.

The Oto-nin made a garbled noise in his throat, and then scrambled out of the way. As he did, Sasuke appeared behind him, holding the tip of a kunai to the weak point between his spine and skull. Narumi stared, eyes wide. Sasuke was serious about killing this guy.

Sasuke glared at the back of Dosu's head, and his arm tensed, as if he were about to do something. Before he could, Hayate called out sharply. "Match! Winner, Sasuke Uchiha."

There was a long moment of silence. Then Sasuke snorted and lowered his kunai, backing away from Dosu without taking his eyes off the Oto-nin. Iryou-nin came over to the Oto-nin, checking over his arm and throat worriedly, as Sasuke climbed the steps to join his teammates on the balcony.

As Sasuke started to climb the steps, Narumi blinked away her surprise, and whooped excitedly. "Alright, teme! Way to go!" Saburo shook himself, grinned, and cheered enthusiastically. As Sasuke reached them, he stumbled a bit, and started to fall.

Kakashi reached out a hand, and gripped his shoulder, subtly keeping him on his feet as he looked his student up and down. "Maa, you did okay." Sasuke straightened and smirked a bit. Kakashi looked him over a minute longer, frowning slightly. Then he guided him over to the wall. "Sit down a while and rest, Sasuke."

Sasuke gritted his teeth, and nodded once, sitting heavily against the wall. Narumi frowned slightly when the Uchiha unconsciously lifted a hand to grip the side of his neck where the odd mark lay. Kakashi eyed the movement, and spoke in a quiet voice that only the three of them could hear. "Give it a minute, and then we're going to go seal up that curse seal."

Sasuke started, jerking his head back to stare up at Kakashi. "Not yet! I want to see the preliminary matches!" Kakashi shook his head firmly. "No. You can stay for this next match, but after that we're leaving. That's an order." Narumi watched Sasuke grit his teeth in frustration, and shifted uncomfortably.

The tense atmosphere was broken when Kakashi-sensei turned back to the arena. "Well then. I wonder who'll be next." Narumi spun around, focused on the flashing screen, a wide grin splitting her face. "Me next, me next!"

Hayate coughed into his fist, and then lifted his dull eyes to the genin teams leaning on the railings above him. "Now, for the next match." There was a suspenseful moment as the yellow characters continued to flash across the screen. Then it came to a stop. Hayate eyed the result, before calling out.

"Inori Yamanaka, and Kin of Otogakure, please come down to the arena."

Narumi folded her arms and hissed in disappointment that her name hadn't been called. Down the balcony, Inori leaned back, rubbing at his shoulder and sighing. "Man. I don't want to get on a beautiful girls bad side..." Shika rolled her eyes and shoved Inori toward the stairs. "Get going already." Inori frowned over his shoulder at her as he headed for the stairs, dodging the other genin. "Shika-chaaan! You don't have to be so cruel!"

Inori glanced out at the arena, muttering under his breath as he drew even with Narumi and Saburo. "I wonder who 'Kin' is...?" Saburo turned to his friend and opened his mouth to speak. Right at that moment, Kin reached the floor, and sauntered up to stand in front of Hayate. Inori's eyes widened slightly. Then, ignoring the stairs, he stepped forward, braced a hand on the railing, and vaulted over it.

Narumi and Saburo stared after him, surprised by the sudden movement. Inori walked over to stand opposite the dark haired woman, arms crossed over his chest. "Hey, Kin wasn't it? Man, and I really didn't want to fight a girl." Kin cocked her head back, bracing a hand on her hip and smirking at him. "Well then, I'll just have to end the fight quickly, won't I?"

Hayate raised a hand, and sliced it sharply downwards. "Second match, Inori vs. Kin. Begin!" Inori surged forward, striking out at Kin with a solid right hook. Kin ducked beneath his arm, and launched herself forward and up, whipping her body around into a round house kick aimed at Inori's head. The blond boy dodged it, swaying back out of her range, and falling into a taijutsu stance as she used the momentum of the kick to turn entirely around to face him again.

Inori launched a quick punch at her midsection before she could attack again, and Kin caught it with a swift side block, striking at the side of his neck with a knife hand blow. Inori swayed to the side, avoiding her hand, and reaching up sharply to catch her wrist in an iron grip.

Quickly, he stepped in, launching to sharp jabs to Kin's stomach while she was unable to guard. Kin gritted her teeth, choking slightly, and then bent her knees, launching her fist straight up and throwing the power of the move against Inori's thumb, the weak point in the grip.

Inori swore quietly under his breath as Kin broke free of him and sprang back and away, somersaulting through the air. As she dodged sharply backwards, a smug smirk still on her face, Kin launched three senbon at Inori.

The blonde boy yelped and dropped into a crouch, allowing the three senbon to cut through the air above him where his throat had been a moment before. Then he stopped to peer over his shoulder at the bell be-decked senbon protruding from the wall behind him. He whistled, turning back to the smirking Kin.

"Dang, even your weapons are pretty." Kin lifted more senbon, and Narumi grimaced as her mind presented her with a memory of Haku going through the same movement. Shika suddenly cried out sharply. "Inori-kun! Don't trust the bells!" Narumi blinked. _'What the heck? What 'trust the bells'?'_ Kin launched the senbon, and Inori dodged them easily, swaying back and forth with a relaxed look on his face. "Whoa, gotta be careful."

The sound of jingling bells rang out from behind the boy, and Inori automatically turned, body tensed to dodge again. Instead of an attack, all he found where the bells attached to the senbon in the wall jingling slightly. Narumi's eyes widened as she spotted the light reflecting off a wire leading from Kin's hand to the bells. While Inori was distracted, she launched another two senbon.

Inori whipped back around, managing to turn his body enough that the senbon buried themselves in the side of his shoulder rather than his chest. Shika dropped her face into her hand with a deep sigh. "Maa! And I just told you too!"

Inori squinted one eye closed, and yanked the senbon out with a grunt. "Damn, that hurt Onee-chan. But I won't fall for it again." Kin smirked wider at him. "You don't need to." With a flick of her wrist, she set the bells to jingling again. Narumi frowned in confusion as Inori's eyes suddenly widened. He wavered for a moment, and then crashed to his knees.

"What the...?" Kin giggled at him, her voice sickeningly sweet and girlish. "All those who listen to the bells become like that. These are special bells you see. Their vibrations directly effect the eardrum, ear canal, and the brain. They show you illusions, and weaken your body."

Inori gritted his teeth and tried to cover his ears, his forelock falling over his face and shadowing his eyes. Kin cocked a hip, bracing a hand arrogantly against it as she smirked cooly down at her opponent. "That's useless. You can't shut out the sound of my bells."

Narumi growled, gripping the railing tightly and yelling down angrily. "Oi! That's not fair, you can't do that to Inori-baka!" Saburo gripped her shoulder tightly, locking his jaw and shaking his head at her.

Inori squinted up at Kin, eyes flickering to either side of her as he dropped his hands and muttered to himself. "Kuso...which is the real one?" Kin giggled again, voice cruel and playful at the same time. "You can't even move at all, can you? How do you think you're going to attack me like this?" Kin lifted a fist, with three gleaming senbon clamped between her fingers as her other hand continued to manipulate the wires controlling the bells. "Now, I'll just tenderize you slowly." With that, she flung the senbon at him.

Inori's voice was tight when he spoke. "Don't you think you're underestimating me just a bit too much?" Lifting one arm, he caught the three senbon in his arm. Flinching, he set his jaw against the pain, and then his hand went to his weapon holster. Pulling out a kunai, he slashed to either side of him. The cut wires went slack, and the constant ringing of the bells suddenly stopped.

Kin frowned at him, slightly put out, but not alarmed as Inori's eyes focused on her.

"Maa, what a bad boy. But it doesn't matter. Even if you've escaped my illusion, you still won't be able to move for a while yet. First I'll throw five senbon. Then seven. And I'll just keep going until you look like a pretty blonde hedgehog. That will be your punishment."

Inori lifted an eyebrow. "Look, no matter how much of a kinky chick you are, that is SO not my thing." Kin's smirk dropped, and she glared at him. "Huh, you sure talk big, but you can't do a damn thing." Inori smirked, and lifted his hands into a strange, circular hand sign. "True, I can't move. But that doesn't mean I can't attack you."

Kin narrowed her eyes in confusion. "Wha-?" She was already too late. Inori's eyes hardened, and he spoke in a cool voice. "Shintenshin no Jutsu!" Inori's body suddenly went limp, and he collapsed hard on his side, apparently unconscious. Narumi leaned forward, horrified. "Oi! Inori-baka!"

Kakashi-sensei's voice suddenly rang out from behind her. "It's alright, Narumi. Inori is perfectly fine. And he's just won this match." Saburo and Narumi both glanced at the silver haired jounin, stunned. Then they looked back to the arena.

Kin was standing, head dropped forward, shoulders slumped. Her fingers twitched, and she slowly lifted her head. There was something odd about her as she looked around, and shifted around, not looking at Inori at all.

Then she looked down at herself, smoothing her hands down her sides, and whistling. "Wow. This Kin girl's got a nice body!" Narumi's eyes about bugged out of her head. "I-Inori-baka?" Shika dropped her face into her hand, shoulders heaving in an exaggerated sigh. "Mou, you're so..."

Beside Narumi, Saburo was furrowing his brows in confusion. "Wait a...how did..." Kakashi lifted an eyebrow in surprise. "Excellent use of the mind transfer technique." Narumi twisted around to stare up at her sensei. "Mind transfer...?" Saburo's brows were furrowed. "So that means, right now, Inori..."

Kakashi turned to them, voice calm. "Yes. Right now, Inori has complete control of Kin's body. It's a Yamanaka clan jutsu." Narumi's eyes widened, and she turned back to the arena. Kin tilted her head back, Inori's relaxed smirk spreading across her face as she lifted one hand.

"Oi, proctor-san!" Hayate looked over at her. "I, Kin of Otogakure, admit defeat." There was a long silence. Zaku suddenly shouted angrily from his place in the viewing balcony. "Oi, Kin! What the hell?" Kin shrugged, eyeing Zaku with a distinctly unimpressed gaze. "Not very bright, are you, Oto?" While Zaku spluttered, Inori turned Kin's body towards Hayate. "So?"

Hayate blinked, and cleared his throat. "Well then. Inori Yamanka is the winner." Kin whooped, and brought her hands together. "Kai." Her body suddenly blazed blue, and the energy surged out of her body, arching through the air to strike Inori squarely in the chest.

The blonde genin's body absorbed the energy, and Kin collapsed, panting and wide eyed, to the floor. Inori sat up slowly, rubbing the side of his head. "Sheesh, that hurt." Shoving himself to his feet, he tucked a hand in his pocket and nodded to the girl with a wicked smirk. "Later, wench."

With that, he strolled over to the stairs leading back up to the balcony where the rest of the Konoha genin stood, and made his way back up to the platform. Kin gritted her teeth, fists tight enough that her nails drew blood. Stiffly she stood, and stalked over to the far wall, bounding up to the viewing balcony without even bothering with the stairs. Her shoulders were tense with anger, and she continually shot glares over her shoulder at Inori.

When Inori passed them, he clapped Saburo on the shoulder as he went. "Oi, don't lose your fight, Idiot." Saburo snorted and turned deliberately away. Narumi looked back and forth between them in confusion as Inori headed back to his own team. Kakashi-sensei reached out and ruffled her hair with a smile. "Don't mind it, Narumi. Rivalry is a mysterious thing."

Narumi furrowed her brow for a minute, and then shrugged and turned back to the arena, eyes on the screen that was once again flashing with names. Excitedly, she started bouncing on her heels. "Me, me! Come on, pick me!" Just down the balcony, she could hear Lee repeating a similar chant.

Kakashi turned and gestured to Sasuke. "Come on. Let's get going." Narumi looked back over her shoulder, going quiet for a minute. Sasuke muttered under his breath at her as he stood. "What are you looking at, Dobe?" Instantly, she turned back around with a huff. "Get lost, Teme." Kakashi chuckled, shook his head, and then he and Sasuke disappeared with a puff of smoke.

She threw up her hands in frustration when the names came up. Lee's shoulders sagged with disappointment as well. Saburo rolled his eyes and nudged her arm with his elbow. "Don't look so upset. You'll get your turn to join the beat-down soon enough." Frowning, he glanced back at the space formerly occupied by their sensei and teammate. "You think Sasuke'll be alright?"

Narumi snorted, watching as Hayate stepped up to call the new fighters forward. "'Course. It's Sasuke-teme after all. He's too much of a bastard to die." With a final firm nod, she focused on the fight in front of her.

Hayate coughed, eyes lifting to the balconies. "Tenma of Konohagakure, and Kankuro of Sunagakure, please come forward." Tenma calmly walked down the stairs and headed out to stand in front of Hayate. Narumi looked across the room, and Saw Kankuro grin cockily before starting down the stairs.

Teruyoshi was watching him go with a serious face, eyes half closed in contemplation. When she glanced at him, he looked up and caught her gaze. Very slowly, the corner of his mouth quirked up, and he winked at her. Huffing, Narumi rolled her eyes, and focused on Kankuro and Tenma, who were facing each other down in the arena.

Kankuro grinned, shrugging off the large object on his back, and planting his hand firmly in it's hair to hold it upright beside him. With a cocky smirk at Tenma, he spoke. "I'll finish this quickly." Tenma's brown eyes narrowed, and the chinese boy eyed the foreign shinobi, a small, confident smile spreading across his face. "Like I'd let that happen."

Lee whooped excitedly, waving his arms wildly in the air. "You can do it, Tenma! Use the power of your youth!" Down below them, Hayate looked back and forth between the two genin, and lifted his hand. "Third match, start!"

Tenma leaped backward, creating space between them, eyes intent on the other boy. Kankuro chuckled. "Hey, hey. Don't be running away already. I haven't even done anything yet." Tenma's eyes narrowed. "Who's running?"

Tenma leaped high into the air, brow furrowing in concentration as he sent a wave of shuriken spinning through the air towards Kankuro. The weapons connected solidly, found burying themselves in vital areas in his chest, while another two drove into the space between his eyes. Kankuro's body jerked and twitched, a choked sound of pain issuing out of him.

Everyone stiffened, and Tenma landed lightly in a half crouch, frowning slightly at the figure of the suna-nin. "Did I get him?" There was a long silence, and then pieces of Kankuro's face began to crack around the weapons embedded in his forehead, flaking away.

Narumi's eyes widened, and she took a deep breath. All she could scent from him was weathered wood, sand, and ink. Then Kankuro's face jerked up, teeth chattering as his echoing voice issued from his too wide mouth. Where bits of the facade of his face had flaked away, dry wood was exposed. "Now it's my turn."

The facade of Kankuro suddenly shattered away from the strange wooden figure as it's free arm elongated and shot towards Tenma with the sound of clicking and rattling. Narumi leaned forward, eyes wide in shock and agitation.

Tenma narrowed his eyes, and leapt upwards, throwing two kunai, and pinning the things arm to the floor. As he somersaulted over the thing to land lightly behind it, a hand shot out of the bandage wrapped object the thing still held upright at it's side.

The hand gripped the bandages, and with a swift tug, they unraveled, revealing the real Kankuro. The disgruntled Suna-nin glared, turning to face the chinese boy. Strange blue threads of chakra appeared at his fingertips as he moved his hand oddly. The wooden figure beside him strained, and wrenched its arm free of the kunai, turning and moving forward to stand between him and Tenma.

"Slippery brat, aren't ya?" Kankuro's voice was mocking, still cocky. Tenma snorted, eyeing his opponent calmly.

"You're one to talk." Narumi frowned down at the two of them, confused.

"I don't get it. What is that thing?" Saburo gritted his teeth, eyes intent on the fight below them.

"It's a puppet. Kankuro must be a puppet master. He uses his chakra to manipulate the puppet to do the fighting for him."

Narumi glared indignantly down at the boy in black. "But that's not fair! It's two against one!" Saburo shrugged, face grim.

"Not really. The puppet is just a ninja tool. More sophisticated than a kunai, but same basic principle."

Narumi gritted her teeth and fumed. Meanwhile, Tenma was eyeing Kankuro carefully as he pulled out a scroll. Kankuro twitched his fingers and the puppet lifted a hand, extending it palm outward towards the chinese boy. The Suna-nin smirked.

"It's no use. Nothing you try is going to work." The hand suddenly launched towards Tenma, flipping around to reveal that a large blade had been hidden within the arm. Tenma's lips slowly curled into a smile, and he flicked the scroll open, touching a symbol gently.

A sickle appeared with a burst of smoke, and Tenma snatched it cooly as the blade hurtled towards him.

"Fool. If it's a battle of weapons you want, you'll find yourself sadly outclassed."

Swaying gently to the side, he avoided the blade, allowing it to sail past him, his hair moving gently in the wind of it's passing. Kankuro glared, shouting at Tenma as he moved his hand.

"Idiot. Don't think I can't control it just because it's detached from Crow." The blade suddenly swung around in midair, and came hurtling towards the back of Tenma's head. Narumi leaned so far over the rail in her agitation that Saburo had to catch the back of her coat to keep her balanced.

"Oi! Tenma, watch out!" At the last moment, Tenma stepped smoothly to the side. As he did, he lifted the sickle, extending it straight out from his side. As The blade passed him, he swept the sickle back in towards him, catching the puppets hand in the crook of his weapon, and pulling it sideways. With a quick twist and a circular swing of the sickle, he flung the hand to the ground, dropped to one knee above it, spun the sickle, and sank it's blade through the dead center of the wooden palm, burying the blade deep in the floor beneath it.

There was a short moment of stunned silence at the display of weapons skill as Tenma rose smoothly from the floor, eyes half hooded as he looked at Kankuro. The Suna-nin gritted his teeth, and motioned several times with his hand. The bladed puppet hand on the floor twitched and jerked, but remained firmly pinned by the gleaming sickle.

Kankuro growled, and flipped his hand around again. The puppet raised it's four arms, the three remaining hands pointing towards Tenma palm outward.

"I'll crush you, damned brat!" Tenma merely stood in a relaxed, ready pose lifting a single scroll in front of him with lazy confidence.

"Bring it on." Narumi pumped her fist into the air, cheering. Not far from her, Rock Lee was going ballistic with joy. Kankuro snarled, and launched all three hands, the wrist blades gleaming in the bright lights of the arena.

Tenma whipped his hand to the side, allowing the scroll to unroll a bit, it's tail circling and looping gracefully through the air around him as he launched himself into a smooth taijutsu dance. Leaning and turning, keeping his movements controlled and circular, he dodged and spun around the three puppet blades.

With one hand, he manipulated the scroll, that continued to twist around him, fluttering through the air. With the other, he would gently brush his fingers across a symbol, causing a weapon to appear. The first time, it was a long, heavy bladed kunai with a crosspiece near the hilt. He used that to pin one of the hands to the ground, ramming the blade so deeply through the palm and into the floor that the crosspiece was tightly pressed against the wooden surface of the twitching appendage.

The second time, it was a small mace that he used to completely demolish the other two blades. Though his swings seemed almost gentle, when they connected, the puppet body parts nearly exploded into splinters. The whole time, he kept up that easy dodging dance, his hair fluttering around him, eyes half closed with concentration and easy familiarity.

Narumi stared, mouth agape, at the chinese boy coming slowly to a careful halt as he slammed the mace down on the last fragments of a twitching finger from the last demolished hand. Releasing the handle, Tenma lifted his eyes to his opponent, and arched an eyebrow.

Kankuro practically howled in fury. With a rough jerk of his arm, the handless puppet beside him flew across the arena towards Tenma, jagged teeth chattering ominously. The Konoha genin narrowed his eyes, and sprang high into the air, scroll whipping around him as he used it to send a barrage of weapons at the puppet.

Kankuro smirked, though sweat was beginning to bead at his temples. His fingers twitched just a bit, and the puppet lifted it's arms. Four smoke bombs shot from the arms that were now little more than hollow, open ended tubes, and suddenly thick gray smoke exploded out from the puppet, flooding the entire arena with the roiling stuff. Tenma's eyes widened, and he flung up his arms in a cross guard in front of his face as he fell back towards the arena floor, plummeting into the smoke.

Narumi held a hand to her nose, eyes watering at the scent as she peered down into the arena. Hayate leapt up and back, landing lightly on the tips of the fingers of the giant hands on the back wall. Those on the viewing platform were able to see the contestants, but those in the smoke could not see each other.

Narumi's eyes widened as she spotted Kankuro guiding his puppet to circle around behind Tenma, who was standing stock still. The chinese boy was squinting blindly into the smoke around him, unaware of the impending danger. With a muttered curse, he suddenly pulled out a scroll, and flung weapons in all directions.

The kunai cut through the smoke, two of them burying themselves in the puppets chest, while Kankuro ducked to avoid the rest. The suna-nin chuckled, his voice shifting oddly in the smoke.

"Attacking blind? Are you really that pathetic, brat?" Tenma made no answer. The puppet moved a bit closer, and opened its mouth, allowing two senbon to issue forth. Tenma heard the movement, and spun, only to catch the long needles in his left shoulder.

The Konoha genin grunted in pain, taking a step back, and reaching up to yank the things out. Kankuro chuckled, and sent the puppet hurtling towards Tenma through the smoke.

"You're finished, brat."

Tenma gritted his teeth, pulling out a new scroll from his weapon pouch. With a sharp flick of his wrist, he unfurled it, and brought out a new weapon. This time, what appeared in his hand was a long staff. He turned his head in the direction of the oncoming puppet, and a small fierce smile spread across his face.

"Don't count on it."

WIth a sharp movement, he gripped the staff in both hands, and whipped it to the side, using the end to strike out at the puppet, sending it crashing to the side.

"And while we're at it...we're the same age, fool."

Kankuro fell silent, glaring through the slowly clearing smoke, and maneuvering his puppet back to its feet. Tenma didn't wait. Swinging the staff around so that he was holding it diagonally across his back with one hand, he brought the other around to hover in a knife hand in front of his face, and sprinted through the smoke towards the puppet.

When he reached it, he jumped into the air, spinning around and kicking out at it with his foot. Kankuro swore, and the puppet turned it's head, its arms extending and wrapping around Tenma's leg.

Narumi yelped as the things ribcage cracked open, and it attempted to drag the airborne shinobi into the cavity. Tenma however, remained calm, whipping the staff around, and striking two handed at a joint in the elongated arms. The staff crushed the joints, and separated the puppet from those two arms, causing the wood to go slack.

Continuing the circular motion of the staff, Tenma brought it all the way around his head with a deft spin, planted the end on the puppets shoulder, and used it to swing his body over the thing and past the danger of the open ribcage.

Landing lightly behind the puppet, he spun around flung a kunai at the puppet. The kunai sank into the back wall of the cavity, just before the opening snapped closed, and Tenma was forced to leap back to avoid a large blade that had sprung from the elbow joint of one of the two arms he hadn't destroyed.

Once he was out of range, Tenma lifted one hand into a simple concentration seal in front of him. The moment he did, the puppet's ribcage exploded, fragments scattering in all directions. Kankuro swore, crying out from his place hidden in the smoke.

"Kuso! What did you do?" Tenma shrugged, eyes hooded and stance easy, staff still held at the ready behind him.

"Attaching an exploding tag with a remote detonation seal to a kunai is a simple matter."

Kankuro growled irately at the other boy, slowly backing up and moving to the side, taking up a new position.

"Bet you think you've got me now. But I've still got some surprises for you."

Suddenly, the puppets head flew up into the air from where it had fallen to the floor, its teeth chattering as vigorously as ever. Opening its mouth, it revealed an enormous senbon jutting forth from between it's teeth, and sailed directly at Tenma.

Tenma spun his staff over his head, and just as the puppets head came within range, dropped into a sideways combat crouch, one leg extended towards it, and brought his staff down on it with a resounding crack. The staff smashed the chattering head to the floor, crushing it badly.

Before Kankuro could react, Tenma sprang forward, dashing through the smoke. Kankuro had already backed out of the dissipating smoke, and was in a clear space when Tenma leapt out of the cloud, smoke trailing from his hair and staff as he shot towards Kankuro. Kankuro's eyes widened, and Tenma grinned up at him predatorily.

Then, he whipped the staff around in a lightning fast spin, and planted the tip of the weapon in Kankuro's chest, using the force of his leap to shove the other shinobi to sprawl across the floor on his back. Tenma landed astride Kankuro in a combat crouch, leaning over him with the pole held in a two handed grip, its base resting gently on Kankuro's throat.

Hayate coughed, voice as flat as ever. "Winner, Tenma."

Narumi whooped excitedly. Lee went ballistic, bolting down the balcony to snatch Narumi's hands and whirl her around excitedly. The two of them spun excitedly, before turning back to the arena and pumping their fists, cheering in excitement.

"That was awesome!"

"A most youthful victory, Tenma!"

Tenma grinned, pleased with himself, and backed away from his opponent, re-storing his staff in his scroll, and tucking the scroll back into his weapon pouch. With a nod to the proctor, he walked calmly back to the stairs.

Kankuro lay still on the floor for a while, and then smashed his fist down beside him angrily. Then he slowly climbed to his feet, and walked wearily over to the remains of his puppet as the last of the thinning smoke cleared away. Hayate coughed into his fist, and then addressed the angry genin.

"Please return to the balcony. We will collect what is left of the puppet, and return it to you after the preliminary matches have come to an end."

Kankuro snorted, and glared at the man. He looked about to object, but then his youngest brother, Gaara, called out to him in a dangerous voice.

"Kankuro. Leave it. Get back up here, and stop embarrassing us."

Kankuro didn't look any happier, but he nodded once, and stalked angrily back towards the stairs that led up to the balcony where his brothers and sensei waited.

Narumi snorted and turned the other way, excitedly bouncing as Tenma rejoined his team. Lee and Gai were both spouting about the youthfulness of the fight, and Nobuye was leaning against the wall, apparently ignoring the whole spectacle. Saburo was eyeing Tenma in surprise.

"Huh. He's a lot stronger than he looks..." Narumi shrugged, still quite pleased with the outcome of the fight.

"I think everyone on Lee's team is strong." Saburo hummed quietly, green eyes thoughtful. Narumi squinted up at him, frowning slightly.

"Oi, oi! Why are you making a face like that?" Saburo shifted his attention to her, and then shook his head in exasperation.

"Never mind. Come on, they'll be declaring the next match soon." The rosette moved back to the railing, looking up at the flashing screen as the last remnants of Kankuro's puppet were cleared away. Narumi followed him with an indignant huff. She was about to say something to him, when she saw his shoulders stiffen.

She followed his gaze up to the screen, and caught sight of what had frozen him. Down below, Hayate took a long look at the screen, and then coughed into his fist, turning back to the balconies.

"Saburo Haruno, and Misumi of Konohagakure, please step up."

Narumi and Saburo glanced at each other. She frowned over at the other balcony, where one of Kabuto's teammates was making his way to the arena floor. She punched Saburo lightly in the shoulder, and grinned at him.

"Beat him up, Saburo-kun!"

Saburo squared his shoulders, and flashed her a small smile. Then he headed down to the arena.

Misumi met him in front of Hayate, his eyes narrowed and his voice cruelly amused.

"I'm afraid this is as far as you go, boy."

Saburo tightened his jaw, green eyes snapping fire at the other Konoha-nin.

"Not a chance, old man."

Hayate coughed again, and then slashed through the air and stepped back.

"Begin!"

Misumi shot towards Saburo with a loud cry, lashing out with a strong backhand that Saburo barely managed to block.

"Victory goes to the swiftest!"

Saburo snorted and disengaged swiftly, bringing his free arm up and throwing a haymaker at Misumi's jaw. The older genin ducked, and struck out again, this time with a left hook. When Saburo blocked, Misumi's body suddenly changed, becoming snake-like, and flowing forward to twist around Saburo's body.

Saburo yelped in shock as he found himself locked in position, unable to move as he struggled against the iron grip of the strange shinobi. Narumi smelled his scent spike with adrenaline and alarm, and realized that the situation must be reminding him of the battle against Orochimaru.

Misumi's torso as wrapped around Saburo's, one arm snaked around his shoulders while the other was wound around his dominant arm. Saburo had grabbed a coil of Misumi's body to hold it away from his throat as the other shinobis head hovered just behind his shoulder.

Cursing, Narumi tightened her grip on the railing until her knuckles whitened, and she glared venomously at her teammates dark opponent. Wildly, she wondered what was taking Kakashi-sensei so long. He should be here. Her own alarm grew as pain entered Saburo's scent, and she saw Misumi's grip tightening on the rosettes still healing torso.

"Saburo-kun!"

Misumi chuckled, and hissed at Saburo triumphantly.

"I'm capable of dislocating my joints and softening my body, controlling its movements with chakra. You can't escape me now!"

Saburo's eyes widened, sweat beading at his temples as his muscles bulged and strained with the effort of struggling against his opponent. Misumi seemed cruelly amused by the boys continuing efforts, and his tone darkened.

"It's no use. Like this, I can strangle you, or squeeze you until all your bones are crushed. And that's exactly what I'll do if you don't surrender right now." Saburo's lips quirked up into a strained smirk, and his green eyes flashed over his shoulder at the older genin.

"Never."

Narumi felt pride in her teammate swell her chest, and she leaned precariously forward against the railing. Kira had wandered up behind her, and was eyeing the fight below with a serious expression.

"Pinkie might as well give up now. Trying to look cool like that isn't gonna help him at this point."

Narumi whipped her head around, eyes narrowed, and growled dangerously at Kira. Her instincts flared as the two of them locked gazes. Sometimes, their more animalistic instincts came to the surface, resulting in a quick struggle for dominance. Narumi had never lost one of these small battles yet, and this time was no different. Kira dropped her head slightly in apology as Narumi gritted her teeth. Both of them looked back to the arena as Misumi's frustrated voice echoed Kira's earlier sentiment.

"Brat! Do you want to die?"

Saburo snorted and looked pointedly ahead, ignoring the threat. Misumi's eyes became angry, and he tightened his grip on the younger genin, following through on his promise to crush him. Saburo's face whitened, and he locked his jaw tightly as the still delicate ribs he had fractured in the forest of death gave under the pressure with sickening cracking sounds.

Narumi tightened her grip on the railing again, noting out of the corner of her eye that Kira, Shika, Hirohito, and a few other genin looked a bit green at the sound. A trickle of blood dripped from the corner of Saburo's mouth across his chin, its scent sharp and coppery, and Narumi realized that Saburo must have bitten his cheek.

Saburo raised his free arm, and smashed his fist down on a section of Misumi's strange body that was wrapped around his lower ribs with a grunt of effort. Misumi's face twisted oddly, and he cried out in pain, the coils of his body around the younger boys torso going limp and hanging loosely off the rosettes frame.

Saburo sucked in a deep, grateful breath, flinched, and then raised his fist again, bringing it crashing down on a coil wrapped around his thigh. The coils wrapped around one of his legs went limp, and Misumi screamed.

Quickly, the other genin released his captive, and slithered off across the floor, before his body returned to normal. He laid back on the floor, propped up on his elbows with a pained expression on his face as he peered down at himself. One leg flopped useless against the floor, and he was obviously using purely arm and shoulder muscles to hold himself up, his core muscles completely flaccid.

"What...what have you done to me?"

Saburo hissed, pressing his shoulders back, and wincing as he wrapped an arm around his torso, his face still drained of color despite his triumphant smirk at the other genin.

"Attacked your muscles and chakra coils. Not sure how actually, but it seems to be working."

Misumi tried to shove himself up, but was unable to rise or get his good leg properly beneath him, as he was unable to hold up his torso on his own. With a frustrated grunt, he began flashing through hand signs. Saburo moved towards him, fist cocked back as he attacked. Misumi completed the jutsu just as Saburo reached him.

"Suihachi!"

A powerful stream of water rocketed from the palm of Mismumi's outstretched hand, and struck Saburo hard in the chest, blasting him off his feet, across the room, and slamming him hard into the wall behind him. Saburo cried out in pain, a spatter of blood flying from his lips, before sliding heavily to the ground as the water trickled away.

Misumi was propping himself up on one elbow, running a hand down his chest and obviously trying to think of a way to fight when he couldn't move his torso. After a moment, he narrowed his eyes, and returned to his more serpentine state, sliding eerily across the floor towards Saburo, dragging the limp sections of his body.

Saburo appeared to be dazed, and didn't seem to notice the enemy oncoming. Narumi and Inori were both hanging over the railing, roaring at the rosette at the top of their lungs.

"Saburo-kun! Get up! Don't let him get you!"

"Idiot! Are you gonna sleep through your battle?"

However the cries seemed to have no effect, and Misumi chortled as he neared his prey, reaching for the apparently defenseless boy. Saburo's head snapped up, and he grinned ferociously at his opponent. Bracing one hand on the floor, he shot his right leg out, smashing his foot hard into Misumi's face.

Misumi grunted in surprise, his nose breaking with a spray of blood as his body snapped back to normal, and somersaulted awkwardly backwards before coming to a limp stop. Saburo was breathing hard, but looked grimly triumphant. After a moment,

Hayate came over to check on Misumi. He crouched beside the older genin for a moment, and then stood and coughed.

"Winner, Haruno Saburo."

Narumi whooped and launched herself over the railing, streaking across the arena to her downed teammate. Once she reached him, she clutched his shoulders to help him stay up right and grinned wildly at him.

"Way to go, Saburo-kun! That was awesome!"

Inori was right behind her, speaking in a lazy drawl despite the excitement and concern she could smell in his scent.

"What took you so long, moron?"

Saburo snorted and ignored his best friend, instead giving Narumi a slight smile as the iryou-nin squad advanced across the arena towards them. She ran her eyes over the way he was careful not to jar his ribs, the paleness of his face, and the stark red of the drying blood on his chin. Anxiety flooded her as she realized that he was hurt badly.

The iryou-nin squad had split in half, with two of them examining Musumi, and carrying him out on a stretcher. The other two came to look over Saburo, pushing Narumi and Inori both out of the way. Both blondes hovered anxiously around the little group as the iryou-nin murmured quietly to Saburo, running their hands over his ribs. After a minute, they helped him lie down on a stretcher. One of them rose and looked around at the two genin behind him.

"Where is the boy's jounin-sensei?"

Narumi frowned uncertainly, wondering what they wanted Kakashi-sensei for. Stepping forward, she braced her hands on her hips and squinted suspiciously up at the iryou-nin.

"Kakashi-sensei's with our other teammate right now. He's not here."

The iryou-nin glanced back at Saburo, and then looked down at her. After a half a second of hesitation, he drew her away a bit, and spoke quietly to her.

"We're going to have to take Haruno-san to the hospital. I don't know who will be available to answer questions if and when your sensei is free to come, so I'd like you to pass him a message about Haruno-san's condition."

Narumi swallowed hard, and nodded firmly, worried now that both her teammates were going to end up in trouble.

"It looks like Haruno-sans ribs were fractured very recently, and healed up just before the preliminary matches...?"

Narumi nodded, her throat dry as she recalled and repeated what they had been told by the iryou-nin who had checked them out after they'd arrived at the tower.

"Yeah, he did, during the second exam. He got healed up a couple days ago though, when we first came in."

The iryou-nin nodded and sighed, his voice low as he gave her the message.

"I thought so. The problem is, that Haruno-sans ribs were not completely returned to normal. They were still fragile. He re-cracked them in an almost identical placement and pattern to the first series of breaks during this fight. The damage was compounded and made more extensive by the suiton jutsu he took to the chest, and we can't re-heal the bones again as was done before without putting a lot of strain on his body. He won't be able to fight in the third exam. I'm sorry."

Narumi stared up at the man, eyes wide. She wanted to tell him that wasn't fair, but he had already turned away and was helping his comrade carry Saburo off. Saburo lifted his head and grinned back at her with a small wave.

"Win, Narumi-chan!"

Then he was gone, and Inori was tugging her back up towards the balcony, and out of the way of the next fight. Narumi shook her head, clearing it of her distracting thoughts. She would worry about this later. For now she had to concentrate. She didn't want to be the only one on the squad to not at least qualify for the third test in the exams. Standing quietly between Inori and Shika, she watched the flashing screen and muttered under her breath.

"Come back soon, Kakashi-sensei."

* * *

><p>Kakashi sighed, rubbing the back of his neck wearily as he climbed the steps leading to the balcony where he'd left Saburo and Narumi. He hoped he hadn't missed their matches, but there was nothing to be done if he had. Sealing Sasuke's curse mark had taken precedence. Anko had warned him, repeatedly and emphatically, of the dangers posed by the mark. It had been all he could do to keep Sasuke from being pulled from the exams entirely.<p>

And on top of everything else, Orochimaru had appeared himself while Kakashi and Sasuke were alone after the sealing. A chill settled in the pit of the jounin's stomach, and he remembered the desperate wave of aggression and determination to protect his student. He'd been sure that the snake sannin had intended to steal the boy away then and there, and he'd been perfectly prepared to give up his life to prevent that. In the end, Orochimaru had withdrawn after stating that Sasuke would come to him of his own free will for the sake of power.

Kakashi's eyes narrowed, and he snarled silently beneath his mask as he ascended the last few steps. _'Not if I can help it, bastard! My students are better than that!'_

As he reached the balcony, he lifted his eyes and scanned the groups of genin for his other two students, shoving thoughts of the now hospitalized Sasuke, and the traitorous snake sannin from his mind. His brow furrowed slightly when he caught sight of Narumi's golden head, but couldn't find Saburo. He'd expected to find the protective rosette glued to his more reckless teammates side when he returned.

Suddenly uneasy, he strode down the balcony, nodding to Gai as he passed. His rival nodded, eyes flickering once to Narumi before returning to his own team. Kakashi's shoulders relaxed slightly as he passed the green beast, reminding himself that Gai would never have allowed harm to come to either of his students while he was absent.

Narumi looked up suddenly as he approached, and her face broke into a relieved grin.

"Kakashi-sensei! How's Sasuke-teme?"

Kakashi nodded to her lazily, reaching out to ruffle her hair affectionately as he stopped beside her. It wouldn't do to let her see how strained his nerves were, or how tense he was. He was her jounin-sensei after all, it would only put her at a disadvantage in her battle if she was worrying about how worried he was. Minato-sensei had given him a better example of what a sensei should be than that, and he intended to live up to it.

"He's fine, Narumi. Just resting. What about Saburo? Where's he gone off to?"

Narumi's shoulder tightened, and she glanced around before lowering her voice so that they couldn't be heard by anyone else.

"He had his match while you were gone. He won, but the other guy busted up his ribs again. The medic said to tell you that..."

Her face screwed up, and he could practically see the gears in her head spinning furiously as she worked to remember exactly what the iryou-nin had said.

"...that since he'd already broken his ribs once...and since he broke them again so soon...that it would be hard on his body to heal them again. So he can't...they won't let him into the the third exam, even though he won. It's not fair, Kakashi-sensei!"

Kakashi felt guilt roil in his stomach, and forced it down. Turning his attention to his distraught student, he sighed and shoved one hand into a pocket.

"I know. But we're shinobi. Our lives are rarely fair. We'll go see Saburo after this, and I'll talk to the iryou-nin."

Narumi brightened, apparently confident that he would be able to fix things with Saburo, and Kakashi looked down to the arena uncomfortably. Seeing such blatant trust in him from one of his students warmed him, but at the same time, it felt wrong. Like he was deceiving the girl. She should not have had to worry about this. He should have been here for Saburo's battle, and it should have been him who heard this directly from the iryou-nin.

Between Sasuke becoming a direct target of Orochimaru, and this new development with Saburo, Kakashi was finding himself more and more on edge. He wondered for a moment if perhaps he should have held his team back for a year, as Gai had done. Then he shoved those thoughts down vigorously. He knew his team, and they were strong. The fact that they'd survived the exams so far proved that.

Turning his thoughts firmly to another path, he realized that the fight that had been going on when he came in had ended. Hayate had just declared Shika Nara the winner, and she was lazily ambling after an infuriated Inuzuka girl, who was slamming frustratedly up the stairs with a thunderous expression. Curiously, he addressed his student.

"So what have I missed?"

Narumi's eyes were intent on the relaxed form of the Nara girl who was climbing up to the balcony with the same deliberation she showed everything, and easily rejoined her team, hands resting on her hips after sliding down the sides of her legs fruitlessly in search of pockets.

"After you and Sasuke left, Tenma went up against Kankuro, one of the brothers from Suna. Tenma won, smashed the other guys doll to bits."

Kakashi cocked his head and arched his lone visible eyebrow at his student.

"Doll?"

She nodded vigorously.

"Yeah, his puppet thing. Saburo-kun knows more about it than I do, but it was really sneaky. Like I said though, Tenma won. Then Saburo-kun was called up to fight a guy called Misumi. He could make his body all creepy and snaky like. Said he was controlling it with his chakra."

Kakashi's paranoia sky-rocketed, and for a wild moment, he wondered if Orochimaru could have taken yet another form to attack Saburo as well. He forced himself to relax, reminding himself that at the time, Orochimaru had most likely been threatening Kakashi and Sasuke, and that Saburo had won. There was no way a mere genin could win against Orochimaru, so that meant that this opponent must have just had some odd ability. Though it was quite strange that anyone else should have an ability that could be called snake-like in a chuunin exam that Orochimaru was known to have infiltrated. Actually, it was quite suspicious. Mentally, he made a note to inform the Hokage, and then turned his attention back to his student.

"Saburo-kun beat him by doing something funny with his chakra, but I'm not sure what. Oh, and he broke his nose."

Pride in her teammate warmed her voice, and her blue eyes were burning with satisfaction. Kakashi snorted slightly, and he allowed himself a moment of amused fondness at the girls warlike response to that particular action. She really was an unusual kunoichi. But then, from what he'd heard, all the kunoichi from her year were unusual, so perhaps it was something unique to this particular academy class.

"Anyway, after that, they called up Hirohito and Nobuye."

Kakashi blinked, startled and intrigued. "The Hyuuga cousins?"

Narumi nodded, and Kakashi whistled slightly, impressed.

"Sorry I missed it."

Narumi shook her head, looking disgruntled.

"Nah, it wasn't all that exciting. It was some kind of boring, chakra taijutsu. Anyway, it was weird, 'cause Hirohito was so nervous and timid he should have been knocked out right away. But Nobuye was holding back, I guess. She wouldn't hit him seriously. When he noticed, he got upset, and started attacking harder. He got in a few good hits on her, and then he got really upset, and started asking why she wouldn't fight properly. So she started going on about fate, and how she was destined to be a branch family member, and had to serve the main family, and blah blah blah."

Narumi made a face at Kakashi, wrinkling her nose and narrowing her eyes. "Point is, she was going easy on him because he was 'destined to rise in the ranks as the heir of the main family'. I got mad, and yelled at her to grow a spine and act like a proper kunoichi. And I guess she really must have been holding back, 'cause she got all startled, and blasted Hirohito across the arena."

Here Narumi shrugged, and Kakashi got the distinct sense that there had been a lot more to the mental aspect of that particular fight than she was letting on. Of course, that was to be expected in a fight between a branch family member, and a member of the main house. He sighed inwardly. Honestly, the Hyuuga's were more than a little unsettling in the way they divided and ranked their clan like that. As far as he knew, even the Uchiha's had never taken the clan hierarchy to such a severe extreme.

"Anyway, after that, Hirohito said something to her, and she got mad. After that, they were both goin' at it like nobodies business. Next thing I know, they've both collapsed. The proctor declared it a draw, because neither of them could move anymore, and they got taken away to the hospital."

Kakashi raised his eyebrows in surprise. That was unusual, and it explained why Gai had seemed distracted when he first came back. He wondered how Hiashi would handle the whole thing. Counting up silently in his head, he realized that that made a total of five examinees so badly injured in their fights that they'd had to be hospitalized. Shooting a glance at the harassed looking iryou squad hovering off to the side in the doorway leading to the arena, he shifted curiously. And to think, these were only the preliminary fights. This batch of genin was really something. Narumi kept speaking, and Kakashi turned his attention back to her.

"After that, Shinako went up against Choji. Ne, Sensei! She can use bugs! Kira says they're inside her body, and they can suck chakra! She used them on Choji, and he collapsed right off. They took him to the hospital too, for chakra exhaustion, though he looks alright to me."

Kakashi shook his head absently at her, and reminded himself that chakra exhaustion was not something Narumi would likely ever have to worry about, with the incredible reserves of chakra granted to her through her Uzumaki heritage augmented by the demonic chakra sealed within her. It was only natural she was less than impressed by the iryou squads assessment of the Akimichi's condition. Narumi continued her recount of the events that had taken place while he had been gone, and he was startled to realize that he had missed the greater part of the preliminary matches. He hadn't thought he'd been gone all that long. But then, a potentially life-threatening confrontation with a bloodthirsty traitor did strange things to your perception of time.

"Shika just finished fighting Kira. Shika outsmarted her, and knocked Akamaru out when they tried to use fang over fang. Even managed to catch Kira with her shadow." Here Narumi chortled. "Kira was really upset. She didn't think Shika could beat her. Shika told her just to be glad that she didn't have her paint Akamaru pink."

Kakashi chuckled under his breath. Genin would be genin. The chuunin on duty had just finished clearing the floor from the last battle, and the screen began flashing through names. Kakashi and Narumi both turned their attention to it, and Kakashi narrowed his eyes. His squad had had quite enough excitement, and he mentally growled a warning at the board about pairing his last remaining student up with anyone too dangerous. Narumi apparently had no such compunctions. She and Rock Lee were both bouncing on their heels chanting excitedly.

"Pick me, Pick me!"

The flashing names came to a stop, and Kakashi tensed slightly. Hayate turned away from the board and called out in his deceptively flat, sickly voice.

"Narumi Uzumaki, and Yoroi of Konohagakure, step up."

Narumi cheered, thrusting her fists triumphantly into the air. "Yes! Finally, my turn!"

Kakashi put a hand on Narumi's small shoulder, and leaned over her for a moment. He wished that he knew more about this Yoroi character so he could give her some advice, but as it was, all he could do was generalize. Still, even if it was a poor excuse for his best, he'd offer it. After all, it wouldn't do to send her into the battle without something.

"Don't let him provoke you. Try and keep a cool head, and play to your strengths." He squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. "Go get him."

Narumi tossed a grin at him, and Kakashi's eyes softened before he released her shoulder. He really had grown fond of his kids, and he was confident that Narumi was strong enough to make it through this. _'Show me how much you've grown, Narumi.'_

Narumi vaulted over the railing, and sailed to the arena floor, dashing over to stand in front of Hayate. Yoroi, a suspicious looking man with a mask and strange sunglasses, walked more slowly and sedately down the stairs from his balcony, before facing her. Kakashi shoved his hands into his pockets, making sure his posture was relaxed as always. The Nara girl, as well as the Inuzuka, had both drifted closer together in front of him to watch the match. He eyed them briefly, and remembered hearing from the Hokage that these two, along with Choji Akimichi, were known to be the only children in the village who would play with Narumi when she was younger. He supposed those friendships were strong enough to continue into their ninja careers, if their attentive postures were anything to go by.

Yoroi stared down at Narumi, his voice arrogant and condescending. "If I were you, I'd quit now little girl. Else you might get hurt." Kakashi bristled at both the threat, and the dismissal. Narumi apparently didn't care for them either, because she glared up at Yoroi, fists tightly clenched. "You're the one who's gonna get hurt, old man."

Hayate slid his eyes back and forth between the small tomboyish blonde, and the tall, menacing adult genin. "Eighth match, begin!"

Yoroi launched towards Narumi with a laugh. Narumi charged him, refusing to back down. The two of them met halfway, and Narumi threw herself into a spinning block, catching Yoroi's blow on her arm, and rolling with it's momentum, allowing herself to whip around and throw a strong kick to the opponents ribs. Yoroi grunted with surprise as she struck, and Kakashi's eyes widened. The bastard was sucking out Narumi's chakra every time they came into contact. A grim, vindictive smile curled across the silver haired jounins face beneath his mask. Yoroi was in for a big surprise. Narumi's reserves were far too large for him to drain, even at this young age. She hadn't even noticed his attempts at it.

The two continued to exchange blows, with Narumi throwing haymakers and vicious kicks in between blocks, and Yoroi doing his best to get a grip on her. But Narumi was not your normal kunoichi. Whenever he managed to grab her wrist, she'd power right through it, yank her arm free, and use the temporary hole in his defense to land a painful blow. Yoroi suddenly dropped to the ground, and used his leg to sweep the girls legs out from under her. Narumi slammed into the floor, grunting as her back struck the unyielding stone surface.

In an instant, Yoroi was on her, one hand wrapped around her throat, and the other tangled in her bangs as he did his best to suck out her chakra. Narumi cursed and struggled, and Yoroi tightened his grip on her throat. Kakashi clenched his fists inside his pockets, and distantly reminded himself that attacking the fool would only result in Narumi's disqualification. But the prospect was a tempting one. While Kakashi was restraining his more violently protective tendencies, Narumi brought her hands up in the cross shaped hand sign that was fast becoming her signature move, and snarled up at the larger and increasingly more bewildered genin.

"Kage Bunshin!"

Another Narumi poofed into being beside the struggling duo on the flop, and slapped a foot into Yoroi's side in a wicked sidekick, causing the older man to fly off the original, a handful of golden strands still caught in his fingers. Narumi rolled to her feet, and sprang up beside her clone. Both figures charged, and then began the most embarrassing beat-down that Kakashi could have wished for.

Gai drifted over to stand next to him, the two of them watching as Narumi landed an impressive haymaker on the confused Yoroi's chin. Gai's clone, Rock Lee, was jumping up and down and cheering enthusiastically for Narumi, going on about the flames of youth and beautiful justice. Distantly, Kakashi wondered how such a perfect copy of Gai had ever been created. After a moment, the green beast spoke to him.

"While her style is rough, the taijutsu is most powerful and impressive, particularly for a kunoichi. Your student is most youthful and hip, my eternal rival!"

Kakashi allowed his visible eye to curve up with his satisfied smile, though he kept his eyes on the whirling orange, gold, and blue ball that was thoroughly trashing the very confused and angry Yoroi.

"That's my girl."

Down in the arena, Yoroi staggered to his feet after being thrown into a wall, and roared.

"What the hell? How are you still standing?"

Narumi blinked, cocked her head, and knocked the infuriated man out with one well-placed blow to his temple by the clone that had been sneaking up on him from behind.

"I don't know what your problem is, but you haven't even landed a decent punch! It'd be weirder if I weren't standing."

Kakashi shook his head in amusement as Hayate declared his student the winner. The girl bounced triumphantly up the stairs, leaving Yoroi sprawled where he'd fallen. She was greeted enthusiastically by Shika, Kira, Lee, and Inori. Kira was shouting and waving her arms enthusiastically, and Shika, while more controlled, was obviously pleased, high-fiving the blonde in congratulations for making it to the third exam with her. Lee was bubbling exuberantly about the brilliant flames of her youth, and Inori was wrapped around her shoulders, nuzzling her hair and bemoaning the fact that Yoroi had dared touch it.

Narumi eventually pulled herself free of her friends, and bounced up to Kakashi, her wide blue eyes sparkling up at him with the same vivacious nature her mother had possessed.

"Ne, ne! Did you see me Kakashi-sensei? I won!"

Kakashi chuckled fondly as he looked down at the flushed, beaming girl.

"Yes yes, well done."

The girls grin widened, and her eyes scrunched shut, the whisker marks on her cheeks making her look like a pleased cub that had just brought back it's first successful kill to its parent. Kakashi ruffled her hair, pride blooming in his chest as he realized that all three of his students had made it to the final exam on their first try. Even if they didn't make chuunin this time, to come so far was an impressive accomplishment, especially for rookies.

He glanced over her head, and realized that the board was flashing names again. Gently, he turned her around to face it.

"There's only a couple more matches left. You'd better pay attention, because anyone who wins could end up as your opponent in the final exam."

Narumi stilled, and nodded, stepping forward to the railing and staring hard at the screen. The names that appeared on the screen were both foreign shinobi. Teruyoshi of Suna, and Zaku of Oto. Kakashi lifted an eyebrow when Narumi sucked in a breath, hands tightening on the rail. He had read the sparse files that had been made available to the jounin on all the visiting foreign shinobi, but he had only the most basic information about the two boys. Teruyoshi was the son of the Kazekage, and Zaku was from the village that had only recently sprung up, a village no one was sure how to deal with.

Narumi, however, seemed to have much stronger feelings about the two genin. Of course, she had just been through the greater part of the chuunin exams with them, so he supposed that she was bound to have developed opinions on them. The two boys were both on the other balcony. One, Teruyoshi of Suna, vaulted over the railing and landed easily in the arena, his movements confident and relaxed. Deep green eyes flashed from beneath dirty blonde hair as he strolled up to take his place in front of Hayate. The other, Zaku of Oto, had come down the stairs, and had a distinctly arrogant look, despite the fact that both his arms were wrapped in slings.

The two of them faced one another in front of Hayate, and for a moment there was silence. Then Zaku smirked.

"So you're the weakling they're pitting me against."

Teruyoshi lifted an eyebrow, and rolled his shoulders, causing the sword on his back to shift with the movement.

"I think you're the weakling here. Coming to a fight with your arms both in slings...pathetic. What, did you run into a door?"

Zaku glared at him, voice hot even as his eyes flickered over Teruyoshi's shoulder to glance briefly at Narumi.

"Shut up!"

Kakashi's eyes narrowed, and he shifted a little, spreading his legs into a subtly firmer stance. The day before yesterday, Ikuye Umino, one of the chuunin sensei from the academy, had shown up at his door. She'd been the one to meet his kids at the tower, and had come by to inform him of their injuries. While Saburo's had been most severe, it was Narumi whose injuries had obviously bothered her. She said it looked like the girl had been badly beaten, probably at least partially after she had been rendered incapable of fighting, judging by the defensive wounds. Judging by the way Zaku had looked at her, he probably had something to do with that.

Kakashi's eyes grew vague for a moment as he remembered his conversation shortly before with he'd sealed the curse mark.

**_"Have there been any effects? Have you blacked out at any point since this appeared?" _**

**_Sasuke looked away, obviously unwilling to answer as his fingers tightened their grip on his shoulder. Kakashi sighed, and his voice hardened, reverting to that of a superior officer addressing his subordinate. _**

**_"Answer me, Uchiha." _**

**_Sasuke's head snapped up, and his shoulders stiffened at the use of his clan name. _**

**_"I have not blacked out. But when I first woke up I felt...odd." _**

**_Kakashi cocked his head, eyes cool and patient as he waited for the boy to continue. Sasuke looked away again, looking caught between guilt and anger. _**

**_"When I first came to after...afterwards. I broke a guys arms." _**

**_Kakashi furrowed his brow, staring at his student. _**

**_"In battle?" _**

**_Sasuke shook his head uneasily, then hesitated. _**

**_"Well...sort of. When I came to, he was beating up Narumi...so I went after him. I was just so angry! So I grabbed him and...well, I'd already immobilized him but..." Sasuke shrugged._**

**_Kakashi pondered how to respond. It wasn't exactly a horrible crime for Sasuke to break the arms of an enemy, even if they had been immobilized. In fact, given the circumstances, and the fact that he had been technically protecting a teammate, it could even be seen as a positive thing. _**

**_"Is that all?" _**

**_Sasuke shook his head impatiently, though he wouldn't meet Kakashi's eyes. When he next spoke, his voice was hesitating and soft. _**

**_"It's not just that I broke his arms! I...Sensei, I enjoyed it..."_**

Kakashi shook the memory from his head, warily eyeing the Oto-nin. This then, would be the boy Sasuke had spoken of. The one who had had his arms broken for laying hands on Sasuke's teammates. All this took a mere second to flit through Kakashi's mind, and it appeared that he was not the only one to have caught the Oto-genin's glance. Teruyoshi's shoulders stiffened, and his posture, though still outwardly relaxed, became markedly more predatory. Kakashi's eyebrows slid up. Now that was unexpected. He wondered if the boy knew about the Oto teams interactions with team seven. Even if he did, why should he care? They were competition in the exams, and not even from the same village...

His eyes alighted on Narumi's back, and a light went off in his head. Ah. Narumi must have befriended the boy. She was very outgoing and likable, and Suna was technically an allied village, no matter how shaky the alliance had been in recent years. It was very possible she had at least attempted to approach the Suna team, especially since both teams had been shut up together in the tower for the last two days of the second Exam.

Down in the Arena, Teruyoshi suddenly shifted into a wider stance, holding his arms slightly away from his body and though Kakashi couldn't see his face, the boys voice had a slight edge beneath the relaxed tone.

"Oh, I'm going to enjoy this."

Zaku scowled right back, pulling one arm from it's sling, and extending it towards the Suna genin.

"One arm's all I need for you!"

Hayate coughed, and called out. "Begin!"

Zaku sprang towards Teruyoshi, and slammed his arm out in a wide, ridge hand strike, using his arm almost like a club as he swung it towards the side of the younger boys head. With a smooth movement, Teruyoshi reached back, and pulled his still sheathed sword from the strap that cross his chest and held it to his back. He brought the weapon smoothly around, tip pointing straight upward, and his free hand held crossways behind it, bracing the back of the blade as he used it to catch Zaku's arm. Slowly, he smirked around the sheathed blade at Zaku even as the two of them strained against each other.

"Please. Trash like you couldn't beat me even if you had ten arms, let alone two."

Zaku yelled, face twisted in anger, and turned his palm to face Teruyoshi, releasing a blast of air. Teruyoshi flipped up and back through the air, allowing the sheath to fly from his sword and clatter hard against the wall. As he dropped to the ground, Zaku launched another attack at him. Teruyoshi spun into a sideways stance and sliced sharply and strongly upwards, free palm resting against the top of the hilt of the sword. Kakashi raised his eyebrows, impressed, as twin furrows plowed through the floor on either side of the boy, but left him with unharmed, his hair and clothing rustling in the passing breeze. _'He cut the sound blast...impressive.'_

Teruyoshi turned a feral grin on his opponent, showing all his teeth, and when he spoke his voice was rough and low.

"Alright, it's my turn now."

With that, he spun his sword around his hands, turned, and swept it up in a dramatic cut. For a moment, Kakashi thought he was overemphasizing, attempting to impress as some of the greener and more foolish genin did. Then he felt the spike in chakra, and a blade of wind bursting into being, flying away from the blade of the sword and heading straight for Zaku. The Oto-nin scrambled to dodge, flinching as he was pelted by debris thrown up from the deep, clean edged furrow dug into the floor where he had been a moment before.

Teruyoshi didn't let up, launching attack after attack. Zaku snarled, and brought up his good arm, attempting to contract one of the blasts with a sound wave. When the two attacks met, there was a blast, and Kakashi had to slit his eyes half closed against it. The genin on the balconies, including Narumi, threw up their arms, hair and clothing rippling in the shockwave, tiny bits of debris pelting them. When the blast subsided, Zaku was left, tattered but standing, looking wildly around.

"Did I get him?"

Teruyoshi appeared right behind him with shushin, sword held at the ready and a grim smirk on his face.

"Not quite, no."

Zaku started to turn, eyes wide, but he was already too late. Teruyoshi slashed diagonally upwards at the air between them, the blade of his sword pulsing a fiercely icy blue with chakra, and suddenly Zaku was spinning up through the air in the center of a whirlwind filled with slicing blades of air. Kakashi narrowed his eyes, intrigued. That was a powerful technique, and he doubted Zaku would be able to escape it.

The Oto-nin screamed in pain as lacerations opened on his arms, chest, back, and legs, the blades of wind tearing mercilessly through him, sending spraying droplets of blood high into the air. Teruyoshi ignored his cries, eyes cold as he walked casually over to pick up the sheath of his sword, sliding it back through its proper holder on his back. Then he turned and walked back towards the whirlwind, which was slowly fading. As the winds dissipated, Zaku crashed back to the arena floor, barely conscious. Teruyoshi walked up to the fallen form of the opponent, eyeing him as he lay face down on the floor, heaving for breath.

Teruyoshi's eyes narrowed, and he planted a foot squarely on Zaku's back. The older genin groaned, but otherwise made no protest. Teruyoshi gave the other genin an assessing look, and slid his blade back into its sheath, replacing it across his back. Hayate eyed Zaku for a minute and then raised a hand, his voice echoing in the oddly silent room.

"Winner of the ninth match, Teruyoshi of Suna."

Teruyoshi stepped back from Zaku, and Kakashi's brows rose contemplatively as the foreign shinobi fixed a quiet look on Narumi for a moment, before heading back to his balcony. Narumi was grumbling under her breath, brows drawn down slightly as she watched the boy turn to head for the stairs. Kakashi sighed and shook his head slightly. He'd have to look into this odd friendship Narumi seemed to have with Teruyoshi. Or rather, the friendship that the boy seemed to have with her, as it had looked rather one sided just now. In fact, Narumi had seemed suspicious and even a little aggressive. That meant something, Kakashi was sure of it, but at the moment he couldn't think what it was.

Zaku had struggled to his hands and knees, breathing hard, and Kakashi was alarmed to note that he was glaring almost maniacally up at Narumi, who appeared not to have noticed the hostile attention.

"Not yet! I won't go down like this!"

Lifting his hand, Zaku shot a blast of sound straight at Narumi. Kakashi swore viciously, and dragged his hands free of his pockets, moving forward towards his student. Teruyoshi had spun, and headed back towards Zaku. The other jounin-sensei on the balcony, comrades that Kakashi had known since his academy days, were racing towards him, though to him it seemed like they were moving in slow motion. He reached Narumi just before the blast hit, snatching her up tightly, and trying to shield her small body as he realized that he couldn't quite avoid all of the blast. Desperately, he dodged to the side, but the blast caught his shoulder, and Narumi's head, spinning him roughly around, and knocking her unconscious.

In an instant, time returned to normal, and Kakashi found a half concerned, half enraged Gai at his shoulder, one hand clamped bracingly on his unharmed shoulder as he asked after his blonde student. A screaming Zaku was flanked by Kurenai and Asuma, who both held drawn Kunai on him. At this point, however, Kakashi really doubted either would be needed. Teruyoshi had sliced clean through Zaku's arm, leaving a bloody stump behind that Zaku was clutching at it in agony.

Teruyoshi eyed Zaku with hard eyes as the iryou-nin rushed out to attend to him. Hayate coughed, and though his voice was even, Kakashi could see that his eyes were hard.

"Zaku of Oto, after you have received care, you will return to your team. For attacking a current non-combatant, you are dishonorably disqualified from the chuunin exams of Konoha. Teruyoshi of Suna, if you will please return to the viewing balcony?"

The Suna genin nodded curtly, understanding an order when he heard one, however politely phrased. Leaning down, Teruyoshi very deliberately wiped his blade on a clean section of Zaku's shirt, before re-sheathing it across his back, his movements pointedly contemptuous. Kakashi watched with a certain vindictive pleasure, before turning his attention to the worried genin gathered around him and Gai. The Inuzuka was bristling with anger, teeth bared as she snarled down at the bleeding shinobi in the arena.

"That's it? He was already out of the exams when sword-boy beat him!"

Gai's voice was reassuringly even, and Kakashi was more than happy to leave the talking to him as he once again had to restrain an impulse to viciously maim or kill the former examinee.

"It's not that simple. Such a disqualification means that he can never retake the chuunin exams within Konoha again. It is a great dishonor, both for him and his village, and will reflect badly upon them in the eyes of other hidden villages."

Rock Lee ignored this conversation, focused on the limp kunoichi in Kakashi's arms.

"Will Narumi-san be alright?"

Kakashi nodded, forcibly shoving back his current volatile responses and desires, and reminding himself sharply that he had to behave like a proper jounin sensei in front of the genin. Even if his own genin were either not present, or rendered unconscious.

"She'll be fine. I don't think she was actually hurt, just knocked out by the sound blast. Just in case, I'll be taking her to be checked out at the hospital."

Nodding his thanks to Gai, Asuma, and Kurenai, he used shunshin to leave training area forty four, and began to head to the hospital, wryly noting that this meant all three of his students would be passing through those white, sterile halls for the very first time in their careers as shinobi all within hours of each other. He couldn't say he was really pleased about that, but he couldn't voice that displeasure either. After all, they were shinobi. Their lives were neither safe, nor peaceful, and he couldn't get upset every time something happened to his students.

He sighed, a sudden surge of sympathy and longing racing through him as he remembered Minato-sensei, and his quiet confidence in Kakashi's own team, as well as his aura of concern when they were injured or overdid it. Silently, he wondered how his sensei had felt when they'd gone off to participate in the third great shinobi war, and wished heartily that the wise teacher he had so looked up to was here to advise him now. Shaking his head, he forced those thoughts back, and focused on not jarring his student too much as he ran. Once he had a medic assuring him she was fine, he would find someplace to bed her down, and let her sleep it off. And then he intended to spend the rest of the night exhausting his anger, and soothing his desire to kill something by imagining painful fates for both Orochimaru, and the Oto-shinobi. Who knew? He might come up with something really creative, and just have to go out to try it on the training grounds. Just on training poles or trees, of course. For stress relief.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Hey y'all.

First, many apologies for the extended lateness of this chapter. I have been very busy lately, and will continue to be so for the next couple weeks, so I've been writing in bits and pieces at odd hours of the day between assignments and classes. As a result, I'm not entirely sure how this chapter came out. I hope it isn't a disappointment to you guys, but I don't really have time to read back through the whole thing and check it, unless I put off posting it for another couple of days, and I really don't want to do that to you guys. If you catch any crippling or annoying errors, let me know, and I'll go back and fix it.

Second, as always, a thousand thanks to those who reviewed for me. These past couple weeks, it's been a special relief and pleasure to hear from you guys. Honestly, it's also probably the only thing that reminded me to write somedays, because I really did have to fight for writing time.  
>To Zandamh, thank you for a very uplifting review. I was quite tickled to hear I was able to brighten your day a bit. Reviews do encourage me to try and write faster and more thoroughly, so do know that both for the last chapter, and this one, your reviews did reliably spur me on. I hope I haven't butchered your favorite episode too badly, because as I've said, I'm still not entirely sure about how it turned out. Writing so many different fight scenes in quick succession was much more difficult than I had thought it would be (^^').  
>To Ceralyn, I'm glad you like the story so far. As per your suggestion, I've tried to break things up a bit more in this chapter. I'm not entirely sure how it will turn out, or if it will help, so please let me know if this is closer to what you had in mind. I would hate for the format or structure to get in the way of someone enjoying the story itself.<br>Finally, to Bored and Sleepy with Waffles (by the way, I love your username), Gotta say, I blushed a bit when I read this particular review. I'm very happy you enjoy the story so much. Also, I am setting up for eventual character pairings later on...and honestly I'd originally intended a different pairing for Narumi. But what can I say, the girl has a mind of her own, and she appears to be gravitating in a different direction than the original plan, so at this point, I'm just going with it. I hope I can continue to meet your expectations!

Alright, on to the explanations! Since this chapter is mostly fight scene, there's not so much that I think needs to be gone into, but there are a couple of things. First off, Inori is pretty eager to get down to his fight with Kin because she's part of the team that beat up Saburo so badly. And whatever he says, Saburo is still his best friend, so it was his way of avenging him. Also, Inori is a very loyal Konoha shinobi in his heart, so even though he's got the whole thing about Kunoichi, he's much laxer about his 'rules of honor' when it comes to foreign kunoichi. He also doesn't hit on them nearly as much, because he feels it's disloyal to the kunoichi of his home village, who are, in his mind, obviously superior in every way. He's a bit biased that way, but I think it's a sweet trait.  
>Second, the Hyuuga fight. I tried multiple times to write this, but it never came out well enough that I was willing to put it ought, so ultimately I added in the viewpoint change and had Narumi convey the basics of the fight to Kakashi. Basically, since Nobuye was a girl, and the Hyuuga family was very traditional, she had the whole fate thing drilled into her from a much earlier age, even before her father died. As a result, even though she does have a defiant, determined streak in her, she's much less openly bitter and aggressive than Neji. Instead, she's more submissive and accepting as a genin, and when she is paired with Hirohito, she believes it is her duty to allow him to win, even though she is stronger. Hirohito looks up to her, and when he realizes what she's doing, it upsets him. Consequently, it was Nobuye that Narumi chided and cheered on, which startled her. She still looks down on Narumi's abilities, but she does respect her courage after observing her in the forest of death. So she is surprised that someone like that would react to her decision the way she did. Ultimately, Nobuye ends up going all out against Hirohito, and wins the match resoundingly, though without the whole 'nearly killed my cousin' thing. However, she still has the whole 'it is my fate to serve' thing going at the moment. I expect it'll take a bit more effort to break her of that.<br>I decided not to have Kira fight Narumi, 'cause as far as I can tell, that whole thing in cannon was sort of to establish the 'top dog' position between Kiba and Naruto. But in this story, that was already established ages ago, because Narumi's instincts are more animalistic than Naruto's. So I changed it up a bit there.  
>Finally, the fight between Teruyoshi and Zaku. Teruyoshi does not know for sure what happened with Zaku's arms, as team seven basically told him to shove off when he asked what happened to Narumi's face. But he pretty much figures it out when the guy acts so nervoushostile towards Narumi (yeah, he knows where she was standing, even though she's behind him. No, he's not stalking her. Just happened to notice her from the other railing, as they are standing almost opposite each other.) Teruyoshi, much like Inori and Saburo, has a code of conduct that he adheres to rigorously. One of the big rules in that code is that women and children are strictly off limits. If a woman puts herself out as a Kunoichi, sure you fight her with everything you've got, and if she ends up dead, she knew what she was getting into when she became a kunoichi. But if a kunoichi is subdued, that's it. You don't torture or unnecessarily beat or maim her. He considers it cowardly and just plain wrong. Also, he genuinely likes Narumi. Thinks she's got spunk. So he rather enjoyed getting to handle her attacker. Also, that is the reason he cut off Zaku's arm when he attacked her, and showed so much contempt for him afterwards.  
>Lastly, Kakashi. The reason he wasn't quite able to get himself and Narumi clear of the blast, even though he's an elite jounin is actually quite simple. What Zaku did was hugely stupid. No proper village shinobi would do it, because to break the unspoken code of conduct during the chuunin exams, especially in a foreign village, brings a huge dishonor and loss of face on your own village. Which is just not done. It's beyond unthinkable to knowingly do such a thing. So everyone was a bit slow to react. Also, Kakashi's protective instincts, as previously stated, are actually quite strong and violent, owing to what happened to Rin, Obito, and Minato. Which means what he really wants to do now, is mess Zaku up. Badly. However, that would also break the unspoken rules of the chuunin exams, and Kakashi is not a fool. So instead, he is going to think creative thoughts, and do unspeakably hideous things to a poor innocent training ground somewhere in the near future. I leave the rest to your imaginations.<p>

P.S. If Kakashi seems a little dense about Teruyoshi's reactions to Narumi...well he kinda is. He's a man, and a man who's been spending the majority of his time embroiled in battles and missions. While he adheres rigorously to the example set by his sensei, he's taking a while to readjust to interacting with the younger generation (remember, he was in anbu until the third basically kicked him out to take on this team). So yeah, he might need some time and help to pick up on certain things. Cut him some slack, he's a bachelor soldier. (^_^)

**Please to read and review!**


	11. Erosennin

Narumi shifted, snuggling her cheek down against the cool softness of her pillow, and sighed contentedly. She could feel warm morning sunlight glowing on her face, and she was curled up in a bed. The bed was a bit stiff and scratchy, and the room she was in had a strange, sterile scent, but still.

In a flash of images, Narumi remembered the preliminary matches, watching an attack be launched in her direction, and then nothing. Surging up, she gasped, eyes flashing wildly around the room.

"Narumi, calm down. You shouldn't be loud inside a hospital."

Narumi blinked, and looked across the room to see Kakashi-sensei. The silver haired jounin was sprawled in a chair, his favorite perverted orange book in his hand as he eyed her over the top of it.

To his left, two other chairs had been pushed together, and Sasuke was curled up into a tight ball on the bench made by their seats, a blanket thrown over him from beneath which only his messy hair and a single hand could be seen. Saburo was also asleep, though he was stretched out on the narrow bed beside her.

Narumi relaxed, realizing why her guard had been lowered in the first place when she had first woken up. The room was filled with the scent of her team, all of them in various states of peaceful relaxation.

After a minute, she kicked off the sheet, and pushed herself up to sit cross legged. She was surprised to find herself in nothing but her t-shirt and pants, all her other gear laid out neatly on the table beside her. Even her hair had been undone. She frowned at Kakashi-sensei in confusion.

"Ne, Kakashi-sensei, what happened?"

Kakashi shifted in his chair, lowering his book to look at her properly.

"The genin from Oto snapped and attacked the viewing balconies. He was properly subdued, but you got partly caught in the blast and lost consciousness. I brought you to the hospital to get checked over."

Narumi looked around at the bare white walls and floor, the metal bed frames, and the slightly scratchy, crisp sheets. The faint odor of disinfectant pervaded the place, masking the duller scents of old blood, sickness, and sweat. The blonde shivered and rubbed her arms. She didn't think she liked being in the hospital. Suddenly she had a horrible thought, and her head snapped around to Kakashi-sensei.

"Was there something wrong with me?"

Kakashi looked surprised, and then his eyes softened and he shook his head.

"No, you won't be held back from the third exam. I just decided you might as well stay with Saburo."

The jounin shrugged casually, and stretched.

"There was an empty bed in here, so I just let you sleep there. Sasuke was released not long after that, and came looking for the two of you. Made himself a nest, and bunked down for the night."

Narumi eyed the splay of blue-black hair peeking out from beneath the blanket and giggled, thinking how funny Sasuke-teme looked. Then she sucked in a breath, remembering that at least the two of them were supposed to fight in the final exam.

"Sensei! The third exam..!"

Kakashi shrugged, voice relaxed.

"You haven't missed it, don't worry. The final matches are being held a month from now. You'll be using the time to prepare for the upcoming battles."

Narumi frowned in confusion, cocking her head and furrowing her brow.

"What do you mean, prepare?"

Kakashi leaned his head back and shifted again, as relaxed as always.

"Training of course."

Narumi looked down and bit her lip, thinking hard. Kakashi-sensei was right. She needed to get stronger, much stronger. An idea occurred to her, and she brightened, bouncing up and down excitedly.

"Hey, Sensei, I've got a favor to ask!"

Kakashi sat up a bit, rubbing the back of his head.

"I figured. Special training, right?"

Narumi nodded vigorously, expression earnest as she leaned hopefully forward.

"Well, I expected it. So I've already arranged for someone to oversee your training."

Narumi's face fell, and disappointment swelled up inside her.

"What? Why? I want you, Kakashi-sensei!"

She eyed him suspiciously for a moment, and then narrowed her eyes.

"You're gonna train Sasuke, aren't you?"

Kakashi looked guilty, and Narumi's fists tightened. She scowled at him rebelliously, determined not to show how hurt she was by their sensei choosing the genius Uchiha over her. Not that she should be surprised. It was always like that. Even in the academy, no one ever would have chosen to instruct her over Sasuke. Kakashi spoke in a placating tone of voice, lowering his book entirely into his lap.

"Yes, I am going to train Sasuke. But for the same reason I'm going to train him, I can't train you." Narumi opened her mouth to speak, but Kakashi lifted his hand, voice firm.

"No, listen to me first."

Narumi nodded, doing her best not to sulk, and quietly listening to her Sensei.

"You have to understand, Narumi, my abilities are much stronger in the areas of stealth and assassination-style techniques. Physically speaking, Sasuke is more like me, suited to more subtle areas. Genjutsu, speed attacks, and swift, powerful, one shot strikes are much more suited to his style of fighting. These are things that I can guide him in."

Kakashi sighed and rubbed his temples, before meeting her eyes, his voice strong, even, and apologetic.

"But you're different. You tend to go more for powerful, head-on attacks, and you depend on your stamina and strength to get you through the fight. Also, the techniques you favor, like kage bunshin, are high-powered, but you tend to use them repeatedly. And I highly doubt that you'll ever have much skill with genjutsu."

Kakashi shrugged.

"You have a very limited window to improve here, it's important that you have someone who can maximize your potential for improvement in the given time frame. Which means at the very least, someone who won't be splitting his time between multiple students, and preferably someone more used to dealing with your type. Do you understand?"

Narumi crossed her arms and looked away, still not convinced that anyone could train her better than her own sensei. After all, even if he was late all the time, and read those perverted books, he was still the strongest shinobi she'd ever seen.

"Who's supposed to train me then?"

Before Kakashi could answer, the blanket covering Sasuke stirred, and the Uchiha sat up. His hair was ruffled, the side he'd slept on sticking up wildly in all directions in a way that Narumi would not have thought possible. He was blinking sleepily, and his eyes were still sleep fogged as he yawned widely, rubbing at one eye as he slowly woke up. Narumi stared. She had never seen the Uchiha sleep-rumpled like this before, even on overnight missions.

After a minute, Sasuke seemed to become aware of his surroundings, and jerked, staring back at Narumi with wide black eyes.

"Dobe! You're awake!"

Jumping out of his make-shift nest, the Uchiha scrambled over to perch on the end of her bed, and peer anxiously at her. Narumi burst out laughing, the conversation with Kakashi temporarily leaving her mind as she squinted her eyes closed against tears of laughter, and pointed helplessly at Sasuke's hair.

"S-Sasuke-teme! You should see yourself!"

Sasuke blinked, and raked a hand self-consciously through his hair, smoothing it down and blushing as he glared at her.

"Shut up, dobe! So, how were the preliminaries? Who won?"

Kakashi shook his head at their antics, and stood, languidly straightening from his chair.

"Alright you two, keep it down. Saburo still needs rest you know, as do the other genin housed in this wing. Both of you get ready to leave, and you can talk on the way."

Narumi snapped her mouth closed, nodded, and scrambled off the bed, shrugging on her jacket, and reaching for the bandage roll, as well as her holster, and weapons pouch. After she was nearly ready to go, she pulled on her combat sandals, and turned to Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke. She quickly braided her hair, tossing the resulting plait over her shoulder and tightening her hitae-ate across her forehead as Sasuke finished pulling on his own shoes.

Sensei was just setting a note down on the table beside Saburo, and when he realized both she and Sasuke were looking more like their normal selves, he motioned them out ahead of him, sliding the door to the room closed quietly behind them.

Narumi and Sasuke walked ahead of Kakashi, Narumi chattering brightly with much wild gesturing of arms as she filled Sasuke in on the coolness that was the preliminary round of the final exam. Kakashi followed them more slowly, nose in his book, despite the eye he kept on the two of them.

They stopped on the way out for Kakashi-sensei to sign some papers so that the hospital would know the two of them were leaving, and then they walked out the front doors. Narumi had just finished telling Sasuke about Teruyoshi's fight against Zaku when Kakashi came to a stop.

The two teammates looked back at him, surprise clearly written on their faces as he tucked the orange book into his weapons pouch. He looked around, and then nodded once in satisfaction before looking back to the two of them.

"Narumi, the man I told you about will be here soon. I'll introduce the two of you before Sasuke and I head out, alright?"

Narumi grimaced, understanding dawning on her features, despite the confusion that continued to pervade her Uchiha comrades scent.

"I understand, Sensei."

She did her level best to keep her voice even and clear of mutiny, despite her feelings on the matter. Sasuke looked back and forth between the two of them, obviously curious, but not asking what was up. Narumi looked away, suddenly remembering that Sasuke got to train with their own sensei. Though she understood Kakashi's reasons, she couldn't help but resent Sasuke-teme a bit.

A vaguely familiar voice interrupted her thoughts not long after.

"Kakashi-kun!"

Narumi and Sasuke exchanged looks, Sasuke's one of stoic disbelief, her own openly gaping surprise. _'Kakashi-KUN?'_

They both looked in the direction of the voice, and Narumi stiffened, pointing at him in shock, eyebrows snapping down as she recognized the dark clad figure.

"AAHH! You're the closet pervert from before!"

Kakashi blinked, looking down at his agitated student in blank surprise.

"Closet...pervert? Ebisu-sensei...?"

Ebisu pushed his sunglasses up his nose, cheeks flushed and expression displeased.

"How impolite."

Narumi spluttered indignantly, never once wavering. Kakashi lifted an eyebrow, his lone visible eye traveling up to Ebisu.

"What's this about?"

Narumi turned around to look at her Sensei and teammate.

"Ne, remember that jutsu I have to make me look older?"

The technique in question was one she had developed to get into places that she'd been denied entry on account of her young age when she was little. It made her look like an older version of herself, and for some reason it had turned out to be a perfect way to knock out perverts from blood loss. It was pretty funny actually, even if she didn't use it often.

Before she could explain about how she had used this technique in combination with kage bunshin, Ebisu had wrapped an arm around her and clapped his hand firmly over her mouth.

"Oh, kids! You know how they like to tease, Kakashi-kun."

In an aside to her, Ebisu muttered under his breath, his tone a cross between frantic and threatening.

"I'll treat you to anything you want later, so please don't tell anyone about that."

Narumi eyed him suspiciously, but then the thought of Ichiraku Ramen came to her, and she nodded her head quietly. Kakashi, however, did not look quite convinced. Leaning forward slightly, he eyed the other jounin suspiciously.

"Ebisu? I didn't know you two had met before?"

Ebisu forced a laugh, patting Narumi's head stiffly, his hand striking just slightly too hard to feel friendly as he nervously answered Kakashi.

"Well, yes. It was a slightly unwilling meeting though. Narumi-chan here became acquainted with my charge."

Kakashi's expression cleared slightly, and he leaned back, apparently satisfied.

"Ah, Konohamaru. The Sandaime's grandson."

Ebisu nodded.

"That's right."

Narumi eyed him flatly, still less than impressed with her soon to be teacher. Even if he had promised her Ichiraku's, she'd much rather learn from Kakashi-sensei.

"Still, why him? I don't like this."

Ebisu glared down at her, voice rising an octave in indignation.

"I wouldn't even teach you in the first place if it had been anyone but Kakashi-kun asking!"

Narumi folded her arms, muttering under her breath as she squinted up at the older man.

"Then don't."

Kakashi lifted his hands in a peace-making gesture, lone eye curving up in a smile.

"Now, now you two. Don't say that!"

Coming over, he crouched next to Narumi, murmuring to her in a consoling voice.

"I know Ebisu-sensei's a bit stiff, but he's a personal teacher who instructs elite shinobi. He knows what he's doing. This is his area of expertise as a special jounin. He's actually a much better teacher than me."

Narumi merely grunted, still unconvinced that the closet pervert could possibly be a better teacher than her sensei. Kakashi stood, shooting her an apologetic glance and beckoning to Sasuke as they started to leave. As he passed Ebisu, the silver-haired jounin laid a gentle hand on the other mans shoulder, and squeezed, his voice dangerously calm.

"By the way, Ebisu?"

Ebisu gulped, voice uncertain.

"Yes, Kakashi-kun?"

The silver-haired jounin never once looked at him, and his face stayed relaxed, but his tone was all steel beneath it's silk glove.

"Please take good care of her. I would hate for anything to happen to my student while I'm absent."

Then he was sauntering on down the road towards their usual training grounds, as casual and calm as you could want. Sasuke smirked at her as he trotted after their sensei, his tone teasing and slightly challenging.

"Have fun, dobe."

Narumi snarled at him, watching wistfully until the two of them were out of sight before turning to Ebisu, her teacher for the month. The man looked back down at her, his expression strict, and his voice determined.

"Now, let's go."

Narumi glared mutinously up at him, still less than pleased with being left in the hands of this guy. A sly grin blossomed on her face as she braced one hand on her hip, and thrust her finger at his chest.

"Ramen first!"

Ebisu blinked at her in surprise, stiffening.

"Eh?"

She shrugged, looking away diffidently and crossing her arms over her chest.

"You promised to treat me to Ichiraku's if I didn't tell Kakashi-sensei about your pervertedness. I'm hungry, so let's get going."

Ebisu spluttered and flung up his hands, turning sharply to lead the way to Ichiraku's. Narumi grinned triumphantly at his back. She'd put up with this guy, since Kakashi-sensei couldn't train her right now. But she didn't have to like it, and she sure didn't have to make things too easy for him.

The two of them walked to Ichiraku in silence. As they approached the ramen stand, Narumi drew in deep breaths, savoring the rich scent of the delicious food. As they came into sight of the stand, she bounded past Ebisu, bursting into the shop and grinning almost maniacally.

"Ojii-san! Ayame-nee-chan!"

The old man and his daughter looked up in surprised pleasure.

"Narumi-chan! You're here pretty early, aren't you? Who's this?"

Narumi shrugged, hopping up on a stool and leaning her arms on the counter.

"He's gonna train me for the third exam, and he promised me ramen!"

Teuchi laughed at her enthusiasm at the mention of ramen, and dried his hands on his apron as Ebisu took the stool beside her.

"Alright then, what can I get you? I can't have you running off to train for something so important with an empty stomach!"

Narumi thought about it for a minute, and then grinned.

"Pork, please!"

Teuchi looked expectantly at Ebisu who cleared his throat and politely requested a bowl of Miso Ramen. Teuchi grinned and turned to grab a couple of large bowls.

"One pork and one miso, comin' up!"

Narumi grinned, pulling a pair of disposable wooden chopsticks from the stand between her and Ebisu, and accepting her steaming bowl from Teuchi. She split the chopsticks, and dug in with gusto, happily slurping up a mouthful of noodles. Beside her, Ebisu was staring thoughtfully into his own bowl.

"Narumi-chan, after analyzing what I've heard of you from Kakashi-kun and the academy teachers, I can see that you have poor chakra control."

Narumi finished chewing and swallowing her noodles, already scooping up another mouthful as she eyed the man irately.

"So I'm not the best at control. What's the big deal?"

Ebisu turned slightly towards her, twirling a pair of chopsticks idly around his fingers.

"I will explain what is wrong with you using Uchiha-san, and Haruno-san as comparisons."

Narumi put down her chopsticks, frowning slightly. She wanted to argue that there was nothing wrong with her, but on the other hand, her chakra control really wasn't as good as the other genin she knew. And this was the only person she'd be able to get training from right now, so she'd have to put up with it and see what he had for her. To keep from growling at the man, she went back to slurping down her ramen while she listened.

"First, let's imagine that Haruno-san uses a replication technique. In his case, he can mold and control his chakra nearly perfectly, a rare talent in a young man. This means she can use the technique to the fullest potential, without wasting any energy."

The man took a quick bite of his ramen, chewing contemplatively and swallowing, before resuming his explanation, gesturing with the chopsticks as he went.

"Now, in Uchiha-sans case, he is less adept at molding chakra. Closer to the level of a normal young shinobi. However, he still has good control of his chakra. So even though he wastes some energy, unlike Haruno-san, he is still well versed in the use of his chakra."

Narumi polished off her first bowl of ramen, and Teuchi, used to her appetite, set another down in front of her. She started in on it with a triumphant chuckle, picturing the dark-haired boys reaction if he were to overhear this conversation.

"So Sasuke-teme is weaker than Saburo-kun?"

Ebisu snorted, fixing her with a stern gaze, apparently unamused by her comment.

"You're in no position to be casting stones, Narumi-chan. You're not good at either molding or controlling your chakra. So with the same amount of effort and chakra you would have to expand to make two ordinary clones, both your teammates are able to create about ten apiece."

Narumi slurped up the last of the noodles in her second bowl, and drained the broth, setting it down with a quiet clink on the counter. Ebisu turned to her, voice calm, and a bit kinder than it had been until now.

"Well, the point is that even if you preform the same technique as someone else, your results will be effected by your control and molding abilities. In your case, you mould too much chakra and use up your strength more quickly. This results in the lower level techniques becoming unstable, which is why you have trouble preforming a regular bunshin, but have no such difficulty with the kinjutsu Kage Bunshin."

Narumi shifted, protesting defensively as she turned to Ebisu.

"But...there have been times when I've been stronger than Sasuke and Saburo..."

Ebisu glared at her, brows lowering quickly in disapproval as he snapped out an answer.

"That is because you have more stamina than they do."

Narumi froze, and then looked away. She fixed her eyes on the counter dejectedly, her shoulders stiff, hands fisted on her thighs. She bit her lip and kept silent. She'd never thought she was all that far behind the others, and she trained so hard to keep up with Sasuke-teme. Now, listening to Ebisu, she felt a bit slow.

The dark clothed jounin stood, his voice kinder again.

"Well, just do the exercises I give you and you'll get stronger for sure."

Narumi looked up excitedly, determination warming her belly as her blue eyes shot wide open. She'd train as hard as he wanted to get stronger.

"Really?"

Ebisu dipped his head once, a small smile pulling at the corners of his mouth.

"I guarantee it."

Laying some money on the counter for Teuchi and Ayame, he stood and headed out of the shop, beckoning to her over his shoulder.

"Come on now, let's get started."

Narumi sprang up and darted after him excitedly, curious as to what they would be doing. She was eager to get started on her training.

"Ne, ne! Where are we going?"

Ebisu smiled brightly at her, heading for the gates of Konoha.

"There's a civilian town not far from here. It's just outside the forest that protects Konoha. That's where we are headed."

Narumi blinked and squinted uncertainly at the man. She wasn't sure how a civilian town was supposed to help with shinobi training, but she figured that Ebisu knew best. He was, after all, the person who had just promised her she would be stronger if she followed his instructions. So follow them she would.

As they left the village through the large, chuunin guarded gates, Ebisu nodded to the men on duty, and sprang into the trees. Narumi followed him easily, the two of them springing through the trees with the inhuman speed of true shinobi. A civilian might take anywhere from one to two days to make the trip to the edge of the forest, but it took the two of them less than two hours.

Ebisu finally dropped to the ground as they reached the thinning trees that marked the edge of the mighty forest surrounding Konoha. Narumi followed him and peered out at the large, prosperous looking civilian village. She absently noted the lack of walls and other defensive measures that seemed common in civilian villages and followed Ebisu as they moved forward on foot.

They entered the village easily, the civilians so used to the sight of shinobi that they didn't even spare the two a second glance. Narumi looked around her as they walked, lacing her hands together behind her head as she eyed the shops and other buildings lining the streets.

After several twists and turns, Ebisu lead her down a well kept side street, empty of people. It was lined with buildings that had spacious, immaculately groomed grounds, and steam curled up from vents in the roofs. Narumi's brows drew slowly down as they slipped over the walls of one particularly extensive complex, and circled around to the side where the entrances to the bathes lay. An onsen.

"We've come pretty far...but isn't this a hot spring town? What are we supposed to train in here? Is this some kind of joke?"

Her voice was bored and skeptical, and she didn't pay attention when Ebisu stopped walking. After a minute, she looked back over her shoulder at him, and grudgingly returned to stand in front of him. The special jounin smiled, adjusting his dark glasses and sounding quite pleased with himself.

"No, it's not. We are going to train in this hot spring area." Narumi stared at him in disbelief as he gestured to the natural, open-air hot spring beside them, the red wooden bridge arching peacefully over it vague and indistinct with steam. Her mouth worked for several minutes before she could speak, her voice sharp with disbelief and horror.

"This is a place for bathing!"

Ebisu nodded, apparently quite pleased about something.

"Exactly!"

Narumi stared at him, blue eyes going wide, and then narrowing as she took a step back, a blank look on her face. Distantly she thought that she might ought to scream and through something at the man on principle. After all, he was obviously an enemy of woman-kind.

"Pervert!"

Ebisu stared at her in confusion for a minute, and then his face turned such a bright red that she thought his face might explode, one eyebrow twitching sporadically.

"N-no! What are you talking about? I said we're going to train! Train! I'm not a pedophile!"

She eyed him distrustfully, still not quite sure if she believed him.

"Train here? What am I supposed to do?"

Ebisu cleared his throat, apparently regaining a measure of calm and self control.

"You will walk on top of the water."

Narumi squinted up at him suspiciously, still unsure. There was something about the mans tone of voice that had her sure there was some sort of catch involved. Not that she wouldn't love to walk on water like Kakashi-sensei had done in his fight against Zabuza. Ebisu coughed and turned away from the intensely searching gaze, voice still smugly pleased.

"I heard from Kakashi-kun that you have learned how to tree-walk, correct?"

Narumi nodded slowly, still studying his profile as if she would find an answer to her suspicion if she only looked long and hard enough. Ebisu shrugged in an apparently careless manner.

"This is an application of that skill. In this exercise, you will need to mould a constant amount of chakra. In order to walk on the surface of the water, you must constantly release the correct amount of chakra from your foot into the water, and balance the amount to keep your body afloat. This will improve your chakra control, and broaden the battlefields on which you can fight. It is a very important skill."

Narumi crossed her arms over her chest thoughtfully. What he said made sense, even if the mechanics of the thing were a bit abstract for her to grasp easily. Narumi always did better with concrete concepts than abstract academia. She turned his words over in her mind several times, but still didn't quite get how she was supposed to go about the exercise.

"I don't get it."

Ebisu shrugged, his voice patient and calm.

"Well, in your case it's probably better just to show you. Watch carefully."

Obediently, Narumi locked her eyes on him as he activated his chakra and moved forward onto the steaming surface of the hot spring. As he stepped onto the water, light splashes accompanied each of his steps, and ripples spread out from his feet. The blonde girl watched with large eyes as Ebisu strode out to the center of the pool, and then turned to look back at her.

Narumi brightened excitedly, eyes intent on the older shinobi standing before her. Determination swelled within her, tamer and less desperate than it had been when she'd been racing Sasuke to the top of the tree on the mission to Nami no Kuni, but present still.

"Alright, let me at it!"

Lifting her hands into a concentration seal, she took a moment to focus her chakra in the soles of her feet as she did when she was tree walking. When she felt the familiar soothing warmth pooling in the bottoms of her feet, she dropped her hands and walked forward.

As soon as she tried to step onto the water, her leg plunged through the surface, overbalancing her and sending her crashing forward into the water. She yelped as the water closed over her head, squinting her eyes closed as sudden searing heat surrounded her, and her clothes felt suddenly bulky and unwieldy, weighting down her limbs and making her movements sluggish.

Twisting and writhing, she shot out of the water, dragging herself hurriedly back up onto the stone walkway and fighting for air, choking out protests against the scalding heat of the water as she went. Behind her, she heard Ebisu's slight chuckle, and sprang to her feet, whipping around to face him.

Her bangs were plastered to her face, straggling over her hitae-ate to dangle in front of her eyes, and she could feel the sopping weight of her braid lying heavily between her shoulder blades as hot water streamed down her body and oozed from her now dripping jumpsuit.

She glared at Ebisu accusingly.

"Oh, I forgot to mention. The water here is sixty degrees celsius. I'd advise you not fall in."

Gritting her teeth, the kunoichi lifted her hands back into a concentration seal, ignoring her so-called teacher, and focusing on her training. Gathering her chakra, she stepped forward again. Over and over she tried, and over and over she crashed into the steaming water. Ignoring the brooding gaze of the jounin watching over her, she kept up, not slowing down at all as the minutes slowly bled together and became hours.

After a while, it struck her that she was trying to stick to the water. But maybe that was the wrong way to go about it. To stick to something, she had to use her chakra to pull herself towards it. But pulling herself towards the water she didn't want to fall through seemed off. So the next time, she tried pushing away from the water. To her elation, she thought she felt some stability, and though her leg sank knee-deep into the water, she managed a second step before she found herself submerged once again.

Slowly, she began to get the hang of it, coming closer with every try until she found herself standing precariously in the water. Of course, she was still partly submerged, her feet and the lower half of her calves underwater, but she was not falling in. Her footing felt uneven with the shifting of the currents of liquid beneath her, and she felt herself swaying wildly back and forth, arms flailing for balance. Panting, she waded back to the walkway to continue her efforts.

She tried again, and this time she was delighted to find herself only ankle-deep in the steaming water. Of course, her feet were already bright red by this time, and almost painfully hot, but she ignored that as she wobbled out towards Ebisu. She was about halfway there, when a sudden undulation beneath her feet sent her stumbling heavily to one side. As she did, she caught sight of something behind Ebisu.

A man with long white hair and a red haori was crouched by the fence that separated their spring from the designated womens bath. His face was pressed up against the fence, and he was giggling strangely, scribbling away in a small black book he held in one hand.

Narumi's eyes widened, and she shrieked accusingly, pointing wildly at the man. So great was her indignant horror that she lost her grip on the flow of her chakra, and therefor her hard-won place on the surface of the water. With a great splash, she found herself once again submerged in steaming water. Briefly she mourned the fact that she was wet again, as she'd just been starting to feel less dripping and more damp.

Ignoring that, she fought her way back to the surface of the water, coughing and pointing at the man, her voice rough and angry.

"Enemy of women! Pervert! Hentai!"

The man stilled, his pen ceased its scratching across the page, and his chortling fell silent. Ebisu re-adjusted his dark glasses, his voice cool.

"I don't know who you are, but I will not allow shameless behavior!"

Narumi moved to the side of the pool, watching as her temporary teacher dashed towards the peeping tom. The man spun, his face annoyed, a strange hitae-ate flashing from his forehead as a large orange toad appeared beneath him.

The toads tongue shot out, wrapped several times around Ebisu's waist, and slammed him against the stone walkway, leaving him twitching on the ground with a bloody nose. Narumi stared wide-eyed as the man eyed the Konoha jounin with an aggrieved expression.

"Geez, why'd you do that? What if I get caught?"

As Narumi watched, the annoyed expression lifted, and a grin slid across his face, one side of his mouth hitching up a little higher than the other as he leaned his arm on one knee, leaning forward to inspect his victim.

Turning away, she levered herself out of the hot spring, ignoring the water that cascaded in a small waterfall from her clothes and hair, and scampering across the cobblestones to stand over the unconscious form of the man her Sensei had left in charge of her training.

She stood over him for a long moment, non-plussed by his limp state. Nudging his foot, she called him.

"Oi, Ebisu-san." When he didn't stir, she nudged him a little harder, and called a bit more sharply. "Hey pervert!"

Still he didn't move. Scratching the back of her head, she thought for a moment. Her expression brightened as an idea came to her, and she slipped out of her jacket, cringing slightly at the clammy feel of the warm, wet fabric sliding down her bare arms. After she had it off, she carefully wrung it out directly over Ebisu's face, allowing the still hot water to splash down on him. He didn't so much as twitch, the blood on his upper-lip smearing and becoming diluted as it was washed partly away.

Narumi tied her jacket around her waist, and crossed her arms, cocking her head at him in puzzled thought. Then she nodded decisively, speaking aloud as she did so.

"He's completely out of it. Guess he really is weak."

Then she bristled, and shook her fist at the man sitting cross-legged on the orange frog, voice indignant as she scolded him.

"Oi! Who the heck are you!"

The man grinned widely and snapped his head back, his long white pony-tail of shaggy hair flying back over his head as he proclaimed in a loud, theatrical voice.

"I'm glad you asked! I am the monk of the toad spirits, otherwise known as the great toad hermit, Jiraya-sama!"

Narumi blinked uncertainly, not sure how to deal with this development at all. Weren't hermits supposed to be wise sages that ought to be respected? And she certainly didn't think they were shinobi. But this guy was definitely wearing a hitae-ate, even if it didn't belong to any village she knew of, and no one but shinobi ever wore hitae-ate. It was widely recognized as being bad for your health.

"...hermit?"

The man nodded emphatically, looking quite pleased with himself.

"That's correct!"

The toad vanished from beneath him with a puff of smoke, and the man landed lightly on his feet, the wood of his geta clacking against the stones of the bridge as he straightened. Narumi cocked her head and frowned at him in confusion.

"Oi, ero-sennin! You pervert! Look at what you did! This guy was supposed to help me train!"

The man shrugged, calm and laid back.

"He interrupted with my data-gathering session."

She stared at him, brows furrowing, now thoroughly confused.

"What data?"

Jiraya reached into his wrapped shirt, fishing around with a pleased smirk sitting quietly on his face.

"I'm a writer. I write novels, like this!"

He pulled a book with an orange cover from his shirt with a delighted flourish, and Narumi stared, feeling her face go slack with surprise as she scanned the title, her mouth opening and closing soundlessly.

Icha Icha Paradise.

Lifting a hand, she choked out words, her eyes wide and round with the surprise of it all.

"T-thats...!"

Jiraya lifted an eyebrow, a decidedly crazed looking grin firmly in place as he watched her struggle to speak.

"Eh? You've heard of my book?"

The grin became sly as his eyes cut towards the thing with distinct pleasure and calculation in his gaze.

"...Kakashi-sensei's perverted book!"

Her eyes narrowed as her female nature rose, bristling with disapproval as she recalled how she'd spotted him, her voice going sharp and accusing.

"And what data-gathering! You were just peeking at the girls bath!"

As she spoke, the soft murmur of chatter from the bath suddenly went silent. Then a barrage of shrieks sounded from the other side of the fence, and the sounds of splashing and running were heard before all sound faded away.

Jiraya was looking over his shoulder at the bath with a look of bereaved shock, one hand extended almost pleadingly towards the wooden barrier. Then he looked back at her, eyes tightly scrunched up in sorrow as he scolded.

"Fool fool fool! They found out I was here!"

Narumi stared at him, body going slack as her gaze went flat.

"Pervert."

No longer an accusation, it had the ring of a simple fact that she just happened to be stating. The older shinobi stomped over to her, eyes alight with conviction as his voice strengthened into a tone of utter certainty.

"You fool! I am no mere pervert! I am able to write better novels through the inspiration gathered during my research!"

Narumi snorted, shaking her head slightly.

"Liar, stop with the excuses." Her voice became suddenly more impassioned, and her eyes sharpened again. "Anyway, what am I supposed to do about my training now?"

The man blinked, suddenly returning to a fairly serious and normal shinobi as he straightened to blink down at her.

"Hm? Training? You mean the water-walking?"

Narumi tilted her head back in surprise to look up at him as he returned to his true height, which was quite a bit more than her own.

"You know about it?" An idea suddenly jumped into her head, and her eyes hardened as she braced her hands on her hips.

"Then take responsibility and help me out with my training!"

Jiraya snorted scornfully, his expression becoming petulant as he walked past her.

"What do I care about your training?"

Scowling determinedly, Narumi ignored the unconscious jounin at her feet and chased after the other mans receding back.

"Hey, wait up! Ero-sennin, come on!"

The man spun, arm flung out palm outwards as he scolded right back.

"Shut up! I don't like people who can't ask properly for a favor!"

Then he crossed his arms, expression flippant and voice dismissive.

"Besides, I don't like little girls."

Then, in a burst of wind, he sprang away over the roofs, laughing maniacally all the way as he called over his shoulder.

"Farewell, kid!"

Narumi stared after him, mouth open and eyes sparkling.

"Cool! He's a pervert, but he's really cool!"

More determined than ever, she dashed away from the hot spring and headed further into town, traveling in the same direction she'd seen Jiraya going. Weaving around people, she darted through the streets, glancing around with keen eyes, and regularly drawing in deep breathes through her nose to try and catch his scent. Unfortunately, the scents of the town were muddying the trail she was trying to find, so she could only catch whiffs of that odd scent of steel, ink, and oil every once in a while. Looking around, she muttered to herself under her breath.

"Where could he have gone?"

She was just about to run past a small tea house when a young woman screamed indignantly from within. Surprised, Narumi stopped as the girl stomped out of the entrance, closely followed by the man she was looking for. Jiraya had his hands held up placatingly, and was speaking in a conciliatory tone.

"I'm sorry, little lady! It's just that you've got such an incredible body..."

The woman twitched and spun, turning on the white-haired man. "Pervert!" With that last cry, she slapped him hard across the face, and stalked off down the street. Jiraya looked after her, a goofy smile on his face as he rubbed absently at the red handprint on his cheek.

Narumi stared at him with dull eyes, and for a moment she questioned her own judgment on asking this guy to train her. "How pathetic..."

Then she shook her head vigorously as if to dislodge such thoughts, and reminded herself of how strong the guy was.

"Well, it's not like there's anyone else."

Slowly, she walked up behind him, doing her best to tune out his mutterings to himself as she approached his back. A snatch of his words reached her ears as she came to a halt behind him.

"...women of this town are still as feisty as ever!"

Narumi peered up at him, squinting one eye closed.

"So you've been here before?"

The man whipped around in surprise. She scowled up at him, scolding furiously.

"I bet you were peeping that time too. Ero-sennin, you pervert!"

She would have gone on, but the man was looking around in agitation, and shushed her intently.

"Stop that! Quit calling me a pervert so loudly!"

She glared up at him in exasperation, shaking a fist at him threateningly.

"Shut up! I'm holding you responsible for ruining my training, and you're gonna fix it!"

Jiraya frowned, strode over, and scooped her up, holding her around the waist and bracing her against his hip with a sigh.

"Troublesome kid!"

Stepping over to the side of the road, he deposited her inside a large, empty rain barrel. Before she could spring out of it, he capped it with the wooden lid, and she heard a loud thunk as if something else had been placed on top of that. Shouting in anger, she thrashed as the mans scent receded.

With a malicious glint in her eyes, she braced herself, and punched the underside of the lid with all the force she could manage from her awkward position within the jar. The lid and the object on top of it flew into the air, and she shoved herself to her feet, glaring menacingly at the shocked looking civilians staring at her.

Growling at them, she jumped out of the vat, and stalked off down the street after the traces of Jiraya's scent, careful not to lose it among the multitude of soapy, savory, and sweet scents that swirled throughout the town.

The scent led her out of town, and headed out into the woods around Konoha. Blue eyes narrowed as Narumi cackled in predatory glee. If it was hunt Jiraya wanted, it was a hunt he would get. She'd track him down and force him to train her.

Carefully, she followed his scent into the woods, moving as she'd been taught, with stealth and speed as she followed the unmistakable odor that had become her prey. It wasn't long before she caught up to him. Hiding herself behind a tree trunk, she listened to his fantasizing as he smoked from a strangely designed pipe. Taking a deep breath, she pulled out a handful of shuriken.

When the moment was right, she threw herself out from behind the tree, and launched them at the white-haired shinobi with vicious precision. With a yelp, the man scrambled over the fallen trunk, leaving the weapons to bury themselves with a quick succession of solid thunks in the section of wood he'd been leaning against.

Narrowing her eyes, Narumi made a shadow clone and the two of them moved carefully forward. The clone leapt up on the trunk of the tree, as she crouched next to her own kunai. The clone muttered something about the kawarimi, and scampered off into the forest. There was the sound of a chakra release, and Jiraya's voice drifted over the trunk.

"Too bad, girl. You'd have to train for a hundred more years to beat me."

Standing, Narumi eyed him, her voice flat and unimpressed.

"Not really."

The toad hermit jerked, yelping in shock and staring at her with wide eyes. Then he sighed and threw up his hands.

"Mou! I give up!"

Narumi nodded once, crossing her arms. It was about time!

Standing up, Jiraya led her over to a raised bank of earth, and sat down, leaning against it. She sat beside him, crossing her legs, and gripping her ankles, absently noticing that while her clothes no longer dripped, they were still wet enough to be clinging to her skin. She was careful not to lean back against the exposed dirt of the bank behind them, and spared a moment to be grateful they were sitting on grass. She didn't particularly care about the state of her clothing, but she didn't want mud smears in embarrassing places either.

Jiraya eyed her with grudging approval, and his voice had lost it's edge.

"Looks like you have some potential."

Narumi brightened slightly, voice hopeful.

"Will you supervise my training then?"

The man lifted a single finger, eyes serious.

"Give and take! If you fulfill my request, I might be willing to do so."

Narumi frowned at him, cocking her head curiously.

"Really? What's the request?"

Jiraya grinned and stood up, and started walking back into town. Scrambling to her feet, Narumi followed him. The man turned his head to look at her, and gestured with his hands to form an hour glass shape in the air between them.

"Research! It's all about research for my writing. I'm looking for something with a figure like this! Show me something like that, and I'll do it."

Narumi scowled, and then brightened, looking up at him eagerly as they reentered town on a deserted side street.

"Really? You promise?"

Jiraya nodded solemnly, smirking proudly at her.

"Of course! The toad hermit never lies!"

Narumi narrowed her eyes slightly, making sure she had the instructions right.

"All I need to do is bring you a girl? That's it?"

Jiraya nodded. Narumi grinned, and darted around to stand in front of him, stopping. The older shinobi stopped too, cocking his head at her in confusion as she chuckled.

"Watch this, ero-sennin!"

Putting her hands together, she grunted in concentration, and twisted with her chakra to produce her own special version of a henge. The same technique that she had used so successfully on Ebisu. With a puff of smoke, she transformed. When the smoke cleared, she looked down at herself contemplatively.

Her pants looked more like short, tight capris on her longer, more shapely legs, and they strained around the flare of her hips, riding low to compensate for the greater width. Luckily, the jacket tied around her waist helped conceal just how low it rode, or she would have died of mortification. Her shirt was also straining, the wet fabric stretched tight across her breasts, and clinging to her skin, riding up to reveal a good stretch of smooth midriff. She grimaced a bit, trying to ignore how uncomfortable it was to feel her body straining against too tight clothing and shoes, and looked up at her would-be teacher.

Jiraya's eyes bulged, and he stared at her, a slight trickle of blood running from his nose. His hands twitched sporadically, and a bright red tint spread across his cheeks as he looked up and down her. Narumi flushed a bit herself, tugging uncomfortably at the hem of her shirt.

"Is this okay?"

Jiraya gravitated towards her, looking caught between dazed disbelief, and burning delight. In a shocked voice, he croaked out.

"Of course! Perfect!"

Before he could move any closer, Ebisu suddenly dashed out of an ally, and sprang between them, his back to Narumi. The blonde blinked at the suddenly not-so-tall back in surprise.

"That is far enough! I will not allow any shameless behavior! Narumi, change back now!"

Half turning to look over his shoulder at her, he muttered.

"I couldn't face Kakashi-kun if I allowed a pervert to see his student in such a state."

Narumi felt her face slacken slightly in disbelief as she stared at him. Then she took a step back, eyebrow twitching as she pointed at him.

"You know, that would mean a lot more if you didn't have such a massive nosebleed."

Jiraya ignored the man between them, suddenly bursting out into a maniacal grin, his voice sounding a bit mad with delight.

"You pass! Just my type!"

Darting past the disheartened looking Ebisu, he examined her from several angles, voice exuberant as he stared.

"Genius! What do you call this technique?"

Ebisu grabbed the mans shoulder, spluttering as he made another attempt to put a halt to things.

"Oi! I'll thank you to look away now!"

WIthout even looking, Jiraya backhanded him into the wall, eyes still intent on Narumi.

"Don't even think of such a wasteful action! Beauty should be appreciated!"

Narumi blinked and scratched the back of her head nervously. She really wanted to change back. Older girls had things rough.

"So...you'll train me?"

Jiraya nodded enthusiastically, practically sparkling with willingness as he met her gaze.

"Of course I will! It would be my pleasure! There's just...one condition..."

Narumi blinked, cocking her head slightly to frown up at him.

"What condition?"

Jiraya flushed harder, and poked his fingers together, giggling in a very odd way as his eyes flickered away from her, back to her, and then away again.

"You...you must remain in that form whenever you are with me."

Narumi's eyebrow twitched, and she promptly released the jutsu, scowling up at the older shinobi as she returned to the relief of her own body.

"You enemy of women, ero-sennin! Pervert, you're nothing but a pervert!"

Jiraya turned to face her indignantly, looking more in control of himself now than he had a moment ago as he refuted her accusation.

"No, you're wrong! I am no pervert! I am a SUPER PERVERT!"

Narumi trembled, her fingers twitching and clenching into fists as annoyance bubbled up within her chest. _'That...that damned old man! He openly admitted it!'_

Stalking forward, she kicked him hard in the shin, leaving him hopping around the street, clutching one leg and hollering in pain. Sucking in a deep breath, she shouted at him, clenching her eyes shut against the force of her own cry.

"Ero-sennin, you IDIOT!"

After a moment, Jiraya stopped his cavorting, gingerly setting his foot back down and scratching the back of his head absently, the gesture almost identical to Narumi's own habit.

"Maa...it's getting pretty late, so let's just see how far along you are in water-walking..."

Looking around, he spotted a nearby pond, and walked over to it. Her irritation dispersing, Narumi trotted after him. Gesturing to the water, he nodded to her.

"Go ahead."

Narumi frowned, and formed a concentration seal. After a moment of gathering her chakra, she wobbled out onto the water, ankle deep as she swayed uncertainly back and forth, desperately trying to maintain her balance.

She was just nearing the center of the pond, when her chakra flickered and slipped away from her, stripping her of her footing, and leaving her to crash through the surface of the water. As she plummeted under, she glumly reflected that at least it wasn't hot water like at the hot springs.

When she came up, Jiraya was laughing uproariously, tears of mirth forming at the corners of his tightly closed eyes. With an indignant huff, she glided over to the bank, pulling herself out and flipping her braid over her shoulder indignantly.

Jiraya wiped his eyes, laughter trailing off to a broad grin as she stretched, and tried to wring the water from her braid. Her shirt had ridden up a bit, but she ignored that, frowning at the water in disappointment and frustration.

Jiraya shook his head at her, still smiling, and when he spoke, his voice was calm and level.

"Try just gathering your chakra for me, alright?"

Narumi sighed and shrugged, folding her hands together, and closing her eyes as she reached for her chakra. The warm flow of it was familiar as it pulsed comfortingly through her body. But when she reached for it, her grasp was clumsy and awkward, the energy twisting and slipping away from her. It was like trying to turn a single page in a book while wearing a pair of thick gloves that were a size too big.

Jiraya's scent grew stronger, and she heard the slight shifting crunch of gravel and dirt, along with a rustle of cloth and hair as he came around and squatted in front of her. When he spoke, his voice was soft and reassuring, lightly teasing.

"Hey brat. I'm gonna manipulate some of your energy points to help with the flow of your chakra, alright? It'll relax you and make the exercise easier."

Narumi frowned, slitting one eye open to peer into the black eyes that were now on level with her own.

"...well...if it'll help..."

Jiraya smiled and lifted one finger, standing up as he did so.

"Of course it will. Just close your eyes, and lift your hands over your head."

Narumi blinked at him, suspicious of such strange instructions. Jiraya beamed back at her, the very picture of innocence and good will. Closing her eyes tightly, Narumi lifted her arms above her head, temporarily letting go of the flow of her chakra. Suddenly, Jiraya's fingers slammed into her stomach, hard.

Narumi coughed as she stumbled back, wincing as she rubbed at her sore midriff, and glaring furiously at the older shinobi through watering eyes.

"Ero-sennin! That hurt!"

Jiraya shrugged, still smiling despite his attempt to look apologetic.

"Yes yes, I'm sorry about that. But why don't you try again now?"

Muttering under her breath, Narumi eyed him dubiously before moving back towards the water. Folding her hands and regathering her chakra, she gingerly extended one foot, and brought it to rest on the surface of the water.

As she shifted her weight forward onto her foot, she stared in surprise as she remained perfectly on the surface of the water, innocent ripples spreading quietly from beneath her foot as she delicately moved out onto the water. The odd heaving swaying she'd been trying to compensate for had vanished, and she walked easily across the surface.

Incredulously she stared down at her feet as she came to a stop in the center of the pond, waiting for this strange ability to vanish, and leave her plunging into the water once again. When nothing happened after a long minute, her eyes slowly brightened, and she spun in place with a delighted chuckle, dancing across the surface of the water accompanied by the sounds of her own laughter, and the soft 'plish' of her steps on the surface.

"I did it! I did it! Look at me, Ero-sennin!"

Jiraya smiled indulgently and shook his head at her antics. She ignored him, elated at her triumph and spinning easily around the pond. After a moment Jiraya called out to her, his voice filled with a current of amusement.

"Oi, come on Gaki! It's getting late! We oughta be going!"

Surprised, Narumi twirled to a stop in her little dance, cocking her head at the man in confusion, brow furrowed as she tried to figure out what he was talking about.

"Huh? Where are we going? You just said you'd train me!"

Jiraya rolled his eyes a bit, though the effect was ruined by the amused smile still pulling at his mouth insistently. Jerking his thumb towards the west he spoke in a dry voice.

"To a hot spring of course! It's getting late, and we're in a town famous for its hot springs! We're gonna go relax now, and train tomorrow when you're fresh."

Narumi blinked, and then grinned broadly, whooping as she dashed across the water and leapt to the bank, landing excitedly in front of her new teacher, blue eyes glittering with anticipation.

"For real, Ero-sennin? Alright!"

Grabbing his hand, she tugged insistently, dragging him back towards the road. Visions of a warm pool of water that would soothe the aches in her muscles, and dry yukata to wrap up in afterwards, all accompanied by a plate of hot, savory food danced through her head, and her steps quickened slightly. Even if he was a little perverted, at least Ero-sennin had his priorities straight!

* * *

><p>Narumi propped her hands on her hips, staring up at Jiraya in the clear morning light. After spending the night soaking at the onsen, and then getting good nights sleep, she'd woken refreshed and ready to go.<p>

Jiraya had taken her out into the thin woods surrounding the edge of the forest that protected Konoha, to a small clearing on the bank of a clear river.

She cocked her head, brows furrowing as she addressed him.

"Ne, ne Ero-sennin! What's this move you're gonna teach me?"

Jiraya sighed, looking her up and down, eyes serious.

"First things first. I want you to attack me, alright?"

Narumi blinked at him in confusion, and opened her mouth to question him. Before she could, he cut her off on his own.

"I need to have a better idea of your abilities before I decide what you'll be learning. After all, didn't you say you've only got a month? That means we've got to economize."

Narumi sighed and nodded, falling back into a basic taijutsu stance.

"Alright then, let's go!"

Launching herself at Jiraya, she cocked back her fist and swung at him. Jiraya moved slightly back, knocking her fist away effortlessly.

Pulling back, Narumi planted her feet and pivoted her body, slamming her other fist towards his stomach. Again, Jiraya blocked, this time slapping her arm away in an almost gentle motion.

Growling in frustration, Narumi lifted her foot, shooting it out towards the older shinobi's upper chest with a rough sidekick. This time, Jiraya caught her ankle, hand wrapping around her limb with a grip like steel.

Turning, he threw her across the bank. Narumi threw up her arms, twisting as she rolled across the mercifully smooth dirt, and rose into a sliding crouch.

Hastily, she lifted her hands into the cross-shaped sign that was swiftly becoming more familiar than any other, and cried out sharply.

"Kage Bunshin!"

Five of her clones popped into existence around her, each ready and raring to go. Two charged towards Ero-sennin, both with firsts cocked back, much as she had only a moment ago. Another two flanked her as she circled around behind him, eyes narrowing as she looked searchingly for an opening in his guard. The last clone vanished into the surrounding trees.

Jiraya was easily fending off the other two clones, his eyes occasionally flickering between his two immediate opponents, and the three circling swiftly around to clank him.

Turning a bit, he snatched one clone up, and threw her hard into the other, causing both of them to disperse on impact as he caught the blow of one of the trio now behind him.

Narumi grinned tightly in concentration as one of the clones flung kunai at her new teacher, the three of them circling around him in an attempt to confuse him.

She knew from experience that not even Sasuke-teme or Kakashi-sensei could tell which she was when she used Kage Bunshin.

A flicker of awareness let her know that the plan was being put into action, and her grin turned a bit feral. However, at that very moment, Jiraya looked up and spotted the last clone, plummeting towards him with kunai in hand.

Dodging back, he snatched the clone that was currently behind him by the neck, and kneed her hard in the kidneys as he shot out of the path of the falling girl.

The clone landed, and all three remaining Narumi's swore, turning as one to go after the white haired man. Narumi frowned as one of her clones jostled her, knocking her slightly off balance just before they reached Jiraya.

The man smiled, and swept around, using a scythe kick to plow through the two clones, dispersing both as he snatched her up by the back of her jacket.

Narumi yelped as she was pulled off her feet, and whirled through the air to slam hard into the packed dirt. Before she could roll to her feet, she found herself flipped onto her stomach, and Jiraya's free hand closed firmly around the back of her neck, holding her down.

"Alright, that's enough."

Narumi huffed and wiggled as best she could.

"Oi, let me up!"

An amused chuckle sounded from behind her, and the hands let her go. Springing to her feet, she shot him an indignant glare. Jiraya regarded her with laughing dark eyes, clearing his throat.

"Well, it seems to me that we'd better start off by working on your taijutsu."

Narumi's irritation faded, and she cocked her head uncertainly, frowning at the man.

"My taijutsu? What's wrong with it?"

Jiraya shrugged.

"Nothing in particular. It works. But it's rough, and too close to the academy basics. It makes you easy to predict. Also, there's a move I plan to teach you that requires more chakra than you currently have access to. With a normal person, it would take months of training in taijutsu along with meditation to build up their chakra reserves. In your case however, you already have large reserves of chakra. So by training your taijutsu, you'll be able to gain access to those dormant reserves. Understand?"

Narumi nodded, eyes lighting up in anticipation.

"I got it!"

Jiraya looked skyward, a contemplative expression crossing his face as he rubbed the back of his head thoughtfully.

"The only question is the style. Right now you're definitely more suited to a 'hard' style, one that focuses on power and strength. Especially with your strength and stamina. But at the same time, you are a Kunoichi. When you get older, men will naturally have an edge on you in the strength department at the very least. And while you can train to overcome that, it's a fact that your body will eventually be less suited for those styles than a mans."

The dark eyes flickered over her with uncomfortable intensity, and Narumi shifted as he continued.

"At the same time, a 'soft' style just isn't suited for your personality. And to adopt one would completely disregard the advantages and strengths of your physical power and stamina. Added to that, 'soft' styles emphasize control of the practitioners chakra, and you have far too much chakra to ever have truly precise or delicate control."

Jiraya's eyes lit up, and he rubbed his hands together in a gesture that would have looked greedy if not for the childishly delighted expression on his face.

"A challenge then!"

Narumi was feeling more and more dismayed as Jiraya contemplated all this, and her dismay must have shown on her face. Jiraya's eyes softened, and he patted her shoulder reassuringly.

"Not to worry, we'll just make you a style of your own! Combine both hard and soft, so to speak!"

Narumi lit up, bouncing on her heels as she examined the idea of having a fighting style unique to her. She liked that idea.

"Cool!"

Jiraya laughed and shook his head. Then he regained his thoughtful look, slowly working through his idea in his head.

"First things first. You have the basics for a hard style down quite well. So what we need to do first, is cover the gaps that'll leave you with, using soft style methods. The glaring one...that would be the greater strength of males after puberty."

Jiraya trailed off quietly, staring at the sky hard, as if he could wring an answer from the puffy white clouds floating by overhead. Then he grinned and looked down at her.

"Dodging! Dodging and footwork. That's where we'll start. After all, superior power won't matter if they can't hit you in the first place."

Motioning Narumi back, he turned to face the long stretch of cleared riverbank. Flashing through hand signs, he frowned and pressed his palms to the ground. He called out the name of a jutsu, but Narumi lost his words in the resulting rumbling and cracking, only catching that it was a doton jutsu.

Squinting her eyes closed, she covered her sensitive ears as the grating and grinding of stone on stone sounded around her for several moments. When the racket finally ceased, she opened one eye. The other eye popped open, and she dropped her hands in surprise. Before her stretched a veritable forest of rotating poles with long arms that miraculously didn't not strike or tangle each other. It was like a giant puzzle with revolving pieces.

Jiraya patted her shoulder and grinned at her, before folding himself down into a cross legged position, and whipping out his latest manuscript and ink brush.

"Go ahead, gaki."

Narumi gaped, and then frowned uncertainly at him.

"I don't get it. What am I supposed to do?"

Jiraya hummed thoughtfully, and waved one hand distractedly at the strange forest of earth pillars before her.

"Oh it's simple. Just make your way through there without touching, striking, or destroying any of the pillars or their arms."

Narumi squeaked, looking back and forth between the man apparently absorbed in his half-written smut, and the now menacing mass before her.

"Are you serious?"

Jiraya nodded without looking at her.

"Of course. When you're done, come get me and we'll move on."

Looking up at the mass, he frowned for a moment, and then looked up at her calmly.

"Try using circular motions."

With that, he buried himself back into the pages of his manuscript, brush whirling down the page with a scent of thick, wet ink. Narumi swallowed, and then squared her shoulders and lifted her chin. Striding forward towards the pillars, she sucked in a deep breath, and charged into them.

Frantically, she dodged the first swinging arm, and jerked awkwardly to the side to avoid the next pillar. A particularly low arm swept towards her feet, and she leapt over it, beginning to feel a tad more confident that she could manage this if she only took it one pillar at a time.

Suddenly a high arm spun towards her, catching her hard in the chest, and flinging her back out of the maze. She landed hard on her back, coughing, one hand clutching at her chest even as the kyuubi's powers smoothed away the bruise before it could properly form. She looked back at Jiraya, eyes wide in surprise and shock.

The white haired shinobi was still diligently bent over his pages, muttering to himself as he manipulated the brush, apparently unaware of his students difficulties. Locking her jaw, Narumi got to her feet and growled at the pillars.

_'Oh, it is SO on!'_

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN: **_Hi guys._  
><em>

To Ceralyn, I'm glad you enjoyed the preliminaries! I know Narumi's fight wasn't the most impressive, but I wanted to mix the matches up a bit, and I just couldn't get the idea of her against Yoroi out of my head. He was just so very PROUD of his abilities to suck chakra, and it would work so BADLY on Narumi...well, my wicked streak acted up a bit. With Teruyoshi, it just seemed like a giant fan would be a tad too girly for him. I'm pleased you liked the weapon I chose for him instead. Also, very glad to hear that the format works better this way. I will try my best to keep more to this style from now on. Thanks again for the advice.  
>To Zelga Lim Li, it's nice to hear from you. Glad that you're enjoying the story, and I hope this chapter satisfies. I'm really reluctant to answer some of your questions, as it would ruin the surprise of what I'm planning for the future of this fic...but I can safely assure you that there will be no moonlit declaration of desperate love and devotion from Saburo to Sasuke. I promise. Saburo is quite straight, and his feelings toward Sasuke are firmly in the awehero-worship/envy department. Nothing romantic. For the rest, I'm afraid you'll just have to keep reading (^_^).  
>To jayley, always love to hear that people are still liking the story. Saburo's strange attacks will be further explained and developed later on, I promise! I just thought he needed a bit more going for him than "...someday he will be a medic with insane strength!" Not to diss Sakura or anything, but it seemed like that would be a bit wimpy for a guy character. As to Teruyoshi, he doesn't actually know about the invasion yet, or he would never have acted at all friendly towards any Konoha-nin in the first place. The information about the invasion was withheld from him and his siblings until after the preliminaries ended because it was believed that their behavior would alert the Konoha-nin to strange goings-on. Teruyoshi is quite loyal to his own village, much as Narumi is to hers, so as stated, if he had known about it at the time, he would never have allowed himself to get as friendly with Narumi as he is. What he did to Zaku was both out of disgust towards the guy, and a gesture of respect to Narumi. He's not being two-faced, I promise (^-^) .  
>To Bored and Sleepy with Waffles, your reviews are really starting to make me spoiled. Nice and lengthy, which is always unbelievably lovely. I appreciate all reviews of course, but the more detailed ones are always such a pleasure! About Tenma thrashing Kankuro...I'm so happy to hear that it went over well! It was really fun to write for one, and for another, I just couldn't see someone that skilled with weapons being taken out so easily. Plus, Kankuro kinda needed to be taken down a couple of pegs in my opinion...I'm afraid that I'm a bit vindictive myself. Not that I'm admitting to anything mind you!<br>Finally, to Zandamh, you make me blush. I'm glad you liked the match-ups, it took me a while to decide who'd go up against who. Looots of research about fighting styles and such. But it turned out okay, so it works!

Hope everyone continues to enjoy the story!

Alright, first off! Kakashi is not showing favoritism by training Sasuke instead of Narumi. As he said, his fighting style and body type align better with Sasuke than with Narumi. He really thinks he won't be able to do as good a job with her as she deserves given the time limit. If he could, he'd much prefer to take them both. In fact, he's a bit territorial about 'his kids'. Snaps at anyone who belittles them, or claims to know them better than he does, for example, Ikuye and Gai when they didn't think the rookies should be in the chuunin exams. Really, what he's doing is suppressing his own desire to watch over the both of them himself because he knows it would damage Narumi's growth, and her chances in the exams. Aside from being protective, he's just a teensy bit possessive of those he perceives as teammates. Plus, team seven is the closest thing he's had to a family since Narumi's parents died, which makes him even more wary about their safety. Particularly Narumi, since her mother and father were such important figures in Kakashi's life. So really, if there's favoritism, it would probably be towards Narumi rather than Sasuke.

Narumi's version of the sexy jutsu was less about manipulating adults, and more developed out of necessity. When she was younger, shop owners would often refuse to sell her things because of her status as jinchuuriki. However, they sometimes insisted that it was because of her age, saying that she was too young to shop in their stores. This led to Narumi creating the altered version of the henge. It's not so much an illusion as it is a transformation, and as such can affect physical objects such as her clothing. This is why she is not naked, and feels uncomfortable in it. Her body suddenly shifts, changing her center of gravity, the way she has to walk because of the length of her limbs, etcetera. It's quite unnerving for her, but she finds it useful, so she frequently uses the jutsu and practices moving in that form when she's alone in her apartment. The jutsu works by extrapolating from her genetic make-up what her appearance will most likely develop into when she's older, so think of it as a preview of her older self. But yeah, she's gonna be bombshell. Which is why she has the totally accidental side-effect of causing massive nosebleeds in some individuals when she uses it. Coincidentally, none of the boys in her age group have seen her use this to date, because she's only needed it to get around adults.

The scene where Jiraya strikes Narumi, is the removal of the seal that Orochimaru gave her, the one that unbalances her chakra control. He doesn't tell her what he's actually doing, because it won't matter once he's taken it off, and he doesn't want to worry her. She is, after all, his goddaughter. And yes, both Jiraya and Kakashi both realize just who she is. (In case anyone's curious, her name is derived from the 'Naruto' in "Tales of a Gutsy Ninja", but her mother insisted on a more feminine sounding version when they realized they were going to have a daughter.)

Lastly, I will admit that I got the idea for the taijutsu training method from 'The Legend of Korra' and air bending. I wanted to alter Narumi's taijutsu style just a bit, to make it more realistic. Narumi is still incredibly strong, and will eventually be on par with or stronger than Tsunade physically. But she is a girl, so I thought it would be more prudent for her teachers to assume she would eventually be weaker than the guys and try to compensate for it. Since she won't be, this will only make her stronger in the end, so it'll work out.

If anyone has any questions, please let me know.

Also, please do Review! Hearing from you guys after an update is my favorite part of the process!


	12. A Name

Narumi looked off to the side, where Ero-sennin was watching her intently. He nodded to her, and she took a deep breath, turning her attention back to the revolving pillars with their many arms.

Rising to her toes, she waited a moment, and then dashed forward. As she reached the edge of the moving thicket of poles, she turned slightly, going up on her toes and dropping her arms to her sides as she slipped in between two of the pillars.

Hugging close to the pole at her back, she moved with it, waiting as an arm from another pole swung towards her at waist height. When it came within range, she lightly dropped one palm on top of it, and vaulted over it with a half spin.

As she landed, she let the momentum of the spin carry her down, bending her knees, and dipping her torso forward until she was looking at the ground. Another arm whistled by above her back even as she continued the motion, coming up to face forward yet again.

Circling forward, she felt two incoming arms on either side of her, and dipped her torso forward again, planting both palms on the lower arm and lifting her legs to spin over it. As she did this, she kept her body flat against the lower arm, a bare breath of space separating her from it as the other arm swept across her back.

As she emerged from the small space temporarily created between the two arms, she rolled across the ground beneath yet another arm, and came up in time to spin with the bare side of one pole, flowing with it smoothly as she followed it around to face the last wave of movement.

Swaying from side to side, she evaded the arms around her smoothly, and was just about to break free when a shortened arm on the last pole swung around out of nowhere.

Turning as she moved, Narumi lifted her arms and arched her spine, feeling the brush of the earth pole against the back of her jacket. And then she was out, finishing her turn and coming softly to a halt, weight still balanced on the balls of her feet, body relaxed.

Taking a deep breath, she blinked and looked back at Jiraya. The white haired shinobi was laughing and clapping delightedly.

"Very good! You mastered it much more quickly than I thought you would!"

Narumi huffed, wiping a bit of sweat from her forehead and muttering under her breath.

"That's easy for you to say. You're not the one that spent four days being systematically beaten black and blue."

Jiraya ignored her muttered comment, grinning down at her broadly.

"So now, we'll be moving on to the next thing I wanted to teach you. This is a type of technique that will augment and take advantage of your abnormally large chakra reserves. Now that you can access your dormant reserves, you need to work on building them up. Also, you need to get used to drawing on large amounts of chakra at once with ease if you're going to properly utilize and take advantage of such large reserves."

The older shinobi's grin turned feral, dark eyes narrowing slightly as he squatted to look her in the eye.

"There are many techniques that will do this, but the one I'll be teaching you is the Kuchiyose no Jutsu."

Narumi blinked, leaning back on her heels, bracing her hands on her hips, and cocking her head curiously at the taller figure of her teacher.

"Kuchiyose?"

Jiraya nodded.

"You make a contract with an animal clan using your blood, after which you can summon them from their own plane of reality to ours in order to help you. It's a temporal-spatial jutsu of the highest caliber."

Narumi brightened with excitement, blue eyes lighting up eagerly

"That's so cool! Teach me!"

Jiraya frowned slightly, rubbing at his chin thoughtfully.

"Yes, but there's one last problem. To push the limits of your chakra, you'll need to use nearly all of it. If you don't do that, it won't build. But with your dormant reserves opened, just Kuchiyose won't do that. A bigger technique is unwise because it'll put too much strain on your body considering that you're still in the early stages of your growth."

The older shinobi's face cleared and he lit up.

"Well, we'll just have to use up part of your chakra before hand."

Narumi frowned up at him uncertainly, trying to think of something that would consume chakra. Then her face lit up, and she bounced excitedly, waving her arms.

"Ne, Ero-sennin! I know a technique like that!"

Jiraya blinked at her in surprise, and crossed his arms curiously.

"You do, huh?"

Narumi nodded excitedly, and dodged backwards, lifting her hands into the familiar cross-shaped hand sign.

"Kage bunshin!"

With puff of smoke, she found herself surrounded by an immense crowd of her own clones. They shifted around her, and wove her way through them to stand back in front of Jiraya as the clones watched.

"See, see?"

Jiraya seemed surprised, but a pleased smile was tugging at his mouth and he ruffled her hair.

"Not bad, Gaki! This'll even help with your taijutsu training."

Narumi shifted in confusion, dodging out from under the large hand mussing her hair, and squinting up at her teacher.

"What do you mean?"

Her face was creased in confusion as Jiraya chuckled and squatted in front of her.

"Listen up, Gaki. Kage Bunshin is a perfect technique for you. You're chakra reserves are so large that you can use it effectively in a way that very few shinobi can. And there are benefits that are unique to this jutsu."

Narumi shifted impatiently and wished that he would get to the point. But she knew from experience that Jiraya would not be rushed.

"When a Kage Bunshin disperses, it's experiences are transferred to you. Have you noticed that at all?"

Her mouth slid open in surprise, and the blonde stared wide-eyed at the tall man, who rolled his eyes good-naturedly.

"Well, I suppose that's only normal for a genin. Anyway, the technique was originally developed for espionage purposes. The idea was that the clone would infiltrate, gather the necessary information, and then disperse, without the actual shinobi ever having to endanger their life."

Rocking back on his heels, Jiraya lifted one finger.

"However, in your case, we're applying it slightly differently. If you use the technique to train, you increase your potential to learn while dramatically cutting down on the time it takes. So if you use it to create two clones, and train for a day, when you disperse them it'll be like you trained for three days. Understand?"

Narumi furrowed her brow, cocked her head, and nodded, speaking slowly.

"What you're saying is that I can train more in less time..."

An idea struck her, and her eyes widened at the possibilities.

"Doesn't that mean I could turn a month of training into more?"

Jiraya's pleased grin was wide and bright as he laughed.

"Exactly, kid, exactly! Which is exactly what we'll be making use of!"

Then he stood, pointing behind her.

"But first things first, we've got to wear down some of your chakra. So you and the clones all get running. Use your chakra to enhance the speed and power of your movements, and make a new clone every time one disperses. I'll stop you when you're ready to move on."

Narumi scowled in exasperation and rolled her eyes at him. Then she and the clones turned and charged back into the poles, each one using chakra liberally throughout their bodies.

To her surprise, she had more difficulty with the movement now that she was using a greater level of speed and strength, and actually had to replace clones several times during the next two hours as they were slammed into poles or arms, causing them to disperse instantly.

Eventually her movements smoothed back out, and she fell back into the now familiar patterns of spherical movement, moving with the strikes of the earthen arms. She was sweating by now, and her breathing was coming hard.

It wasn't that she was physically tired exactly, but she could feel the tug of chakra being slowly drained from her coils. She sucked in a deep breath, and was about to slide back into the whirling mass of hardened earth when Jiraya called out from behind her.

"Alright, that's enough now."

Naruto grinned as the earth poles withdrew suddenly back into the ground with a cloud of dust. Closing her eyes against the gritty particles, she dispersed the clones, and collapsed onto her back, limbs splayed out as she waited for the dust to clear.

Jiraya's scent approached, flooding her nose with that strange combination of steel, ink, and oil. Cracking one eye open, she grinned up at him. His hands were braced on his hips, his head shading her eyes against the brightness of the late morning sun as he leaned over her with an answering grin.

"Alright, looks like it's finally time to move on."

Narumi rolled over and shot to her feet excitedly, forgetting her tiredness as she whooped.

"Sweet! Let's go!"

Jiraya straightened, his eyes gleaming as he shifted and widened his stance slightly.

"I'll show you how it works first."

He bit into the pad of his thumb and swiped it over his palm, flashing through hand signs and slamming it into the ground.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

A scrolling circle of arcane symbols with long spokes suddenly spread from beneath his hand. Narumi only had time for a bare glimpse of the seal before it was hidden by an explosion of smoke.

The smoke quickly cleared, revealing Jiraya crouched on the back of a toad as tall as Narumi was when she stood on her tiptoes. Leaning back to look at her teacher as he straightened, she grinned, eyes shining with excitement.

"Wow! So cool!"

The toad, a large orange and green creature with a string of prayer beads around its neck, suddenly opened its mouth, revealing a long scroll thicker than her own arm held in the coils of its tongue.

With a low croak, it unrolled its tongue, extending the scroll to Narumi, who took it carefully into her hands with wide eyes. Jiraya was looking inordinately pleased with himself as he nodded to the object she held.

"Open the scroll. It's the summoning contract of the toads, passed down from summoner to summoner, all the way to me."

Narumi glanced back and forth between him and the scroll, her mouth slightly open in awe. Swallowing she turned and laid it on the bank, unrolling it carefully. Normally she didn't care much about scrolls, but something about the idea of generations of powerful ninja having touched it made her want to handle it carefully.

As she unrolled it, she was confronted by names with handprints beneath them. Many, many names, all of them written in a dark red-brown substance that she recognized, it's dull scent both dusty and coppery. Old blood. But somehow, it wasn't as intimidating as such scents usually were. Instead, it was a scent rich with age and power. Shivers ran down her spine as she sucked in a lungful of the heavy smell.

Behind her, Jiraya's voice rang out, his tone firm and encouraging.

"Write down your name using your blood, and put your handprint underneath. Then mould your chakra, and put your hand where you want to summon the toad. The seals are boar, dog, bird, monkey, and finally sheep."

Narumi ran her eyes over the scroll again as she punctured the pad of her right thumb with one of her unusually sharp canines. Reading through the names as she moved forward, her eyes flickered over Jiraya's name, and then hesitated. There was another name between his and the blank space for hers.

Namikaze Minato.

Frowning slightly, she hesitated, looking at the neat, but powerful strokes of the characters, and the fingerprints beneath it where spaced far apart, as if they'd belonged to a large hand. Irrationally, she had the sudden urge to press her own small hand against that larger handprint, feeling as if she should know the name above it.

Shaking herself, she shoved the notion to the back of her head. That was silly, she'd never heard that name before in her life. Before she could get any other strange ideas, she turned to the blank space, and pressed her bloody thumb to the scroll.

Ikuye-sensei had always said she had surprisingly good writing and drawing abilities, considering her marks in the other academic areas. Narumi had never thought much about it, but now she was proud of it. At the very least, her own characters didn't look shameful or silly next to the smooth power of the name beside them.

With great care, she inscribed her name, making sure to keep the lines of the strokes flowing and graceful, the characters shining a bright, wet red beside the darker red-brown of the other names. Once she finished, she carefully pressed her thumb to the other four fingers of her hand, and then firmly pressed her hand against the remaining space beneath her name.

When she lifted her hand away, she smiled in satisfaction, pleased with her signature.

"Okay, that's it right?"

Standing up, she turned to the side, and flashed through the seals that Jiraya had told her. Setting her jaw determinedly, she slammed her hand down onto the ground as he had done.

There was a very small puff of smoke, and she felt wriggling movement beneath her hand. Frowning in confusion when nothing appeared, Narumi drew back uncertainly. There on the riverbank was a thrashing tadpole, it's legs not even developed yet.

She stared at it for a long moment, mouth working as she beheld the less than impressive fruits of her effort. Jiraya burst out laughing, and she glared at him sharply, desperately hoping that her cheeks were hot from the sun, and not from the embarrassed blush that she was afraid had appeared.

"Oh shut up! More importantly what do I do? It needs water right?"

Her own words spurred her into horrified movement, and she quickly scooped the tiny thing up, splashing into the river and carefully submerging her cupped hands just enough that the tiny creature could circle the insides of her palms, but not enough that it could escape.

Jiraya just shook his head, desperately wrapping his arms around his stomach, tears forming in the corners of his eyes as he roared with laughter. Narumi's head turned slowly to fix him with a narrow eyed glare.

After a long moment, the hermit got control of himself, sucking in large lungfuls of air as he wiped at his eyes.

"Just...just dismiss it. That's all you have to do. It's too young to leave on its own."

Narumi grimaced and shifted, cupping the tiny creature in one hand and lift the other into a concentration seal. After a moment, the orange and blue tadpole disappeared with a tiny burst of smoke, and Narumi straightened from her hunched position with a relieved sigh.

Absently wiping her dripping hands on the sides of her pants, she returned to the riverbank.

"I don't get it, what did I do wrong?"

Jiraya shrugged, his face-splitting grin receding to a friendly smirk.

"Try pouring more chakra into it."

Frowning, Narumi shoved a stray strand of hair behind her ear, and preformed the seal sequence again. And was rewarded with another tadpole.

Growling in frustration, she narrowed her eyes and threw herself into her training. For the rest of the afternoon, she spent her time flashing through hand seals, dashing into the river with a thrashing tadpole, and then returning to the bank to repeat the process.

Jiraya wandered off at some point, and sat with his back against a tree, brush flashing down the pages of his manuscript, eyes occasionally flickering to the black notebook he carried in his shirt.

Narumi snorted and ignored him, refusing to give up, pouring more and more chakra into the jutsu each time she went through the seals. As the day progressed, she ignored the grumbling of her stomach, suppressing her hunger in favor of training.

The sun began to sink, and the light turned bloody, but still Narumi continued her training. The summoning scroll had long since been rolled up and returned to the toad from whom she had received it, and she still had yet to summon anything more impressive than a tadpole that had developed its back legs.

By this time, she was feeling stretched in a way she never had before, her eyelids heavy enough that they were proving difficult to prop up. Her pants were soaked to the knee, and several golden strands had worked themselves free of her braid.

Slowly slogging through the river back to the bank after dismissing the latest tadpole, she sucked in a deep breath, and went through the seals again. Calling on her chakra, she moved to use the jutsu one last time.

Before she could complete the technique, the darkness hovering at the edges of her vision swooped in on her. Her senses dulled, and she had the sudden sense of weightlessness that usually accompanied falling.

She had not time to wonder what had just happened before she lost consciousness.

* * *

><p>Three weeks later, Narumi found herself hunched over, hands braced on her knees as she panted desperately for air. She'd spent every day training hard, pouring out so much chakra that she would collapse instantly into sleep at the inn every night.<p>

For all that work, she hadn't managed to summon anything that had fully developed beyond the tadpole stage. The best she'd gotten was a nearly there creature with a tail still attached.

Jiraya sighed heavily, eyeing her from where he sat, his voice slightly discouraged.

"Man, you're really not getting this at all, are you?"

Narumi sucked in another breath, glaring up at him fiercely.

"Shut up! It's not like I'm not working hard here! I'm doing my best!"

Jiraya nodded, offering her a small smile as he stood and walked over to where she leaned on her own knees.

"I know that. But you need to train like your life depends on it if you're going to master Kuchiyose before the finals."

Narumi huffed in frustration, straightening and crossing her arms indignantly.

"I am! Every day I mould my chakra like my life depends on it! Can't you give me more of a hint than that?"

Jiraya scratched his head absentmindedly, and he looked a bit conflicted, eyes wandering away from her face to fix on a stone by his foot.

"A hint, huh?"

Narumi's expression shifted from irritation to confusion as she watched the oddly grave expression on Jiraya's face.

"Ero-sennin?"

After a long moment, he seemed to come to a decision. When his dark eyes turned back to her, they were firm and resolute.

Jiraya sighed again, raked a hand through his hair, and then met her gaze seriously, all traces of playfulness fading away from his demeanor.

"Put your life on the line."

Narumi felt her eyes widen in surprise. Jiraya held her gaze, voice brisk as he addressed her.

"I'm not joking with you here. Can you still do it? Will you?"

Narumi shoved away her own surprise, lifted her chin, and tightened her jaw. Unconsciously, she tensed for battle, dropping her hands to form loose fists at her sides as blue met black in a tense gaze.

"Of course, 'ttebayo!"

Jiraya stood, his voice oddly mild as he looked at her.

"I see. Then follow me."

Turning he started calmly off through the woods. Narumi stared after him blankly in surprise. Then she scrambled up the bank to snatch her combat sandals and traveling pack from under the tree.

She'd continued to carry her things with her every day, and it looked like that was paying off. As she hurried after the broad back in front of her, she hopped first on one foot, and then the other, pulling on her sandals as she went.

They headed out onto the main road to Konoha, traveling back into the thick forest surrounding the village. Jiraya chattered excitedly to Narumi about his research, and what they'd eat when they got to the village.

Narumi frowned at him in confusion, and kicked him hard in the shins every time he tried to go into more detail about his novels.

They were about halfway back when she finally snapped irately at the taller shinobi beside her.

"Ero-sennin! What about training?"

The man fell silent and stopped. Then he turned to her with an odd expression. Before she could address him further, pain exploded in her solar plexus, and her breath was forced out of her.

Choking, her eyes widened. Jirayas fist was buried in her stomach, half hidden in the folds of her black t-shirt. Her body desperately tried to suck air back into her lungs, even as her vision grayed at the sides. Slowly, her eyes slid closed and her body went limp.

The last thing she was aware of before she lost consciousness was the sensation of being caught, and Jiraya's unusually apologetic voice murmuring over her.

"Don't be too angry with me over this, Minato."

* * *

><p>When Narumi's eyes fluttered back open, she found herself stretched out on her back in the forest. Confused, she rolled to her feet, hand rising to smooth at her torso, even though she knew the Kyuubi would have long since healed the bruising.<p>

"Wh-what? Where am I?"

Then her eyes focused on Jiraya, who was standing just in front of her. Frowning uneasily, she scolded him indignantly.

"Ero-sennin? What the hell?"

Jiraya's eyes were cool and hard as he stared down at her.

"The training ends here, Gaki."

Narumi shifted, uncertain and suddenly wary. It took all her willpower not to back away from the man. Something about the way he was looking down at her reminded her of the more dangerous figures among those who hated her back in the village.

"What do you mean? You promised to train me."

Jiraya ignored her reminder, never wavering or moving as he continued.

"Narumi. Die."

She stared at him, more wary than ever, a thousand instincts screaming at her to run. But at the same time, Ero-sennin was her teacher, and she trusted her teachers. Conflicted and nervous, she slowly backed up a couple of steps. Jiraya did not react to her movement.

"Experience the fear of death, and use that to draw out the true potential of your chakra reserves. If you don't want to die, learn to stand and fight with your own power."

Stepping forward and reaching out, he flicked the center of her Hitae-ate, a movement that looked deceptively gentle. Narumi's eyes widened and she suddenly found herself flying backwards through the brush.

Clenching her eyes shut, she through up her arms, feeling twigs lash at the back of her protective jacket. In that moment, she was incredibly grateful that she wore the thicker, bulkier jumpsuit that she did.

Then she was hurtling out of the bushes and into open air. Opening her eyes, she found herself falling into a great gorge in the earth. A waterfall cascaded over one edge. Rock teeth protruded on either side of it, so there was no chance of her saving herself with her own chakra, and it was so deep that the bottom was shrouded in impenetrable darkness.

As her body arched down into the gaping trench, and its walls slowly blocked the forest from her view, time seemed to slow down. Narumi's eyes stretched so wide that it hurt, and her mouth gaped open in a soundless cry. Then the moment passed, and she was hurtling down into darkness, screaming as she went.

Fast, so fast. The rock teeth on the walls hurtled by her with blurring speed, and her braid whipped wildly behind her, her clothing flapping against her skin with enough force that each slap of orange cloth stung.

Her mind raced, and the grim level-headedness of battle clamped down on her mind, forcing back the panic and terror that tried to overwhelm her as adrenaline with no outlet flooded her system.

'_I have to grab one of those teeth to stop my fall. I can't die here!'_

Swiftly channeling chakra to her hands and feet, she angled her body so that she was closer to the jutting, dulled teeth of rock, and reached out to grab one. For a moment her hand closed over it, and she felt the giddy rush of victory.

Then as she tried to swing her weight around it, her hand slipped across the slick damp surface. In an instant, she was ripped off the rock by her own momentum, and found herself hurtling onward into the dark.

The attempt to grab the rock flung her around, and she found herself falling head first, wide eyes fixed with a sick fascination on the darkness below that she never seemed to quite reach.

Her stomach seemed to slide down into her toes, while her lungs felt as if they'd risen into her throat. Her own heartbeat thundered in her ears, and she was filled with a sudden and overwhelming certainty of one simple fact.

'_I'm going to die.'_

As if it had been whispered in her ear by some outside source, Narumi recoiled. Defiance burned through her, and her brows snapped down, jaw snapping closed and teeth gritting together.

Something shifted, and her mind felt clear and sharp, intensely focused. Dimly she reached for her chakra reserves, and realized that it was not enough. Narrowing her eyes, she shoved determinedly, reaching deeper and further.

Squinting her eyes shut, she reached desperately.

'_Just a bit more. Just a little further!'_

Suddenly she found herself on her knees in shallow water. Blinking her eyes open, she looked around and slowly stood up. She was standing in a dimly lit sewer that seemed somehow menacing.

She started to look around her in bewilderment. Before she could think much about the sudden shift, a deep, snarling growl echoed through the dripping corridors. Turning to look towards the sound, she faced down the corridor.

The sound came again, more drawn out and hissing this time. Narumi swallowed, eyes intent on the shadowed corridor. Whatever that was, it was large, and it was hostile. And it also didn't sound like any animal she was familiar with.

Instinctively, she scented the air, eyes flickering across the shifting shadows, hand drifting closer to her weapons pouch. The scent that filled her nostrils made her stiffen. Raging fire, earth, and burnt wood were overlaid with the scents of blood and metal. Not the comforting power-charged blood of the summoning scroll, or the clean kunai steel of Jiraya's scent.

No, this was the sickening black blood that oozed from a bad belly wound, one that spelled a slow and painful death for the shinobi who received it, and the rusted, corroded metal of twisted beams jutting from destroyed buildings.

All of it was wrapped in pure and utter RAGE. A blood-thirst so intense that it took Narumi's breath away, and nearly sent her to her knees. This was the scent of power and malice. This was dangerous.

Steeling herself, Narumi lifted her chin. She was a kunoichi of Konoha, and she would not back down in the face of danger. However she had gotten here, wherever here was, she would not be cowed.

Quickly she strode down towards the sound, splashing through the water as she turned off down a side corridor. Uneasily she realized that the feeling growing stronger as she walked further was familiar. She associated it with a chakra that she sometimes felt was running close beneath her skin when she was upset or angry.

The best example would have been with Mizuki and Orochimaru. Both times, violently angry red chakra had flowed thickly through her coils. That chakra always felt seductively powerful, but she was wary of it. When she felt it, her own chakra always seemed choked and restricted.

When she emerged from the end of the corridor, she found herself in an immense room, flooded with the sick yellow-green light that illuminated the corridors. The ceiling was impossibly tall. She had to crane her neck just to see it. And set before her was an enormous gate.

The gate was intricate, it's bars sturdy and strong looking. She could see no locking mechanism, but a slip of paper that looked small from this distance was plastered in the center of them where they met.

Narumi stared up at the gates with dread, the hissing growls louder and closer now. Somehow she knew that the growls, and the feeling of that strange red chakra lay beyond this gate. And she didn't want to be here with it.

A pair of slitted red eyes, and a mouthful of sharp fangs appeared behind the bars of the gate. Narumi stared, swallowing hard, and locking her knees to keep from backing away. The smallest of those teeth was at least twice her own height.

Sweat broke out on her forehead, beading at her temples and rolling down her cheeks. As red chakra billowed around the nearly invisible head hovering before her, Narumi set her jaw and thanked the kami that she was too frightened to tremble.

'_Huge. It's huge. This...it can't be...'_

A growling, echoing voice echoed around her, though the mouth never moved, and she could practically taste the gleeful menace behind the words.

"**Girl, come here."**

Backing up a single pace, Narumi slowly shook her head. The eyes narrowed, and a set of insanely large white claws suddenly struck out at her. Narumi's eyes shot wide open, and she fell back into a defensive crouch, though she didn't know what good it would do.

The claws were stopped by the gate before they could reach her, and they withdrew with a shriek of metal. The strike had been cobra quick, and Narumi shakily wondered what would have happened if she had answered the beckon and moved closer.

The voice came again, apparently unaffected by her refusal, or it's own failure to harm her.

"**Unfortunately, the seal stops me from devouring you. It does not open. Truly a detestable creation." **

Narumi felt the blood drain from her face, and her voice wavered as she confirmed what she already instinctively knew.

"You're...Kyuubi."

Inwardly her mind was racing as she tried to make sense of what she was experiencing.

'_Did he somehow get out of me? No, it can't be! I would know! Is this a genjutsu?'_

Her attention was drawn to the billowing crowd of orange-red chakra, and her breath caught in realization.

'_That red chakra I've been feeling...it's his isn't it...'_

The Kyuubi eyed her nearly gleefully, and it's voice was scornful and cruel in its amusement.

"**Why did you come here?"**

The voice grew distant, and then seemed to get more excited, greed entering it's tone as the shadowed head with its glowing eyes drawing closer to the bars than before.

"**I see...your life is in danger. Well then, the answer is simple. Give me control, girl, and I will save you."**

Narumi's eyes widened, and she suddenly realized where she was. A manifestation of her own mind that allowed her to speak to the Kyuubi. It had to be some sort of side effect of the seal the Yondaime had used to capture him.

Then her eyes narrowed, and aggression flooded her system. She glared back up at the fox, refusing to allow herself to give into her fear, and when she spoke her voice was sharp and strong.

"That's not how it works, furball!"

The Kyuubi growled slightly, though she thought there was a tone of surprise to it this time. She ignored that, and kept going, determined to re-take this situation.

"Hey, dumb fox! You're living in my body, aren't you? So use your chakra to pay rent, won't ya. Nothin's free you know."

The Kyuubi growled back at her, eyes blazing furiously.

"**And why should I do that, puny wenchling?" **

Narumi lifted her chin, and one corner of her mouth lifted in a predatory smirk.

"Because if you don't, I'm gonna die. And if I'm gonna die, I'm takin' you with me."

There was an instant of silence. Then the Kyuubi laughed, the mocking tone of the sound ricocheting off the bare concrete walls and causing ripples to issue from inside the cage.

"**You have guts, wenchling, trying to blackmail me like that! More spine in you than those other females. Perhaps you have something of a vixen to you!" **

Strange Laughter rumbled through the words, no less menacing or hungry for the amusement. Narumi shivered, furrowing her brow in confusion.

That heaving bright red chakra suddenly washed out of the cage, flowing through the water in a great wave and encircling her. Narumi watched it, alarmed, and hesitated, wondering if she should spring away from its advance.

Before she could, it swirled around her, seizing her ankles and flowing up her body until she was encased from shoulders to feet. The heat of it burned her skin, and it felt like a physical object, pressing in on her, constricting her chest and suffocating her.

Unwilling to show her fear or discomfort, she bit back the cry that tried to force its way from her throat, and bit the inside of her cheek. The Kyuubi continued, dark amusement roiling through its voice as the glowing eyes and gleaming teeth receded back into the darkness of its cage.

"**Very well. As a reward for coming all this way, I'll give it to you!" **

Narumi's eyes snapped open, and she was once again hurtling into the mercifully clean and unthreatening blackness of the gorge. Wind whistled past her ears, howling at her as she passed, but she couldn't be bothered to care.

Though she was aware that her life was in danger, the paralyzing terror was gone, and her mind was clear. Power roiled through her, fierce and chaotic. The red chakra tried to fight her, to take over her and smother out her own chakra.

Grimly, she bit down on the pad of her thumb, and forced the red chakra back, taming it and grasping it firmly. She would control this! Harness it and turn it to her own purposes. When she felt she had it, she flashed through the hand signs that she'd been struggling with for the past three weeks.

Thrusting her hand with it's bloody thumb out in front of her, fingers spread as if she was bracing them against something, she shouted at the top of her lungs.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

Chakra flooded from her hand in a dome shape. First her own blue, and then when that ran out, the tamed roiling of the red chakra. Her eyes slitted as she saw it emerge, and she tightened her control of the technique, wary of rebellion.

Then the danger was past, and there was a huge explosion of white smoke beneath and around her. Enormous webbed limbs shot out, crashing into the walls and crushing stone teeth as the toad braced itself spread eagled in the gorge.

Downward movement halted, and Narumi found herself kneeling atop a broad, dull orange surface. It was smooth and a little damp, with strange lumps here and there. An alarmed, booming voice suddenly rumbled out from beneath her in an alarmed tone, and the sound was almost comforting after the menacing hiss of the Kyuubi.

"Where the hell am I?"

Narumi felt her mouth slide open as she took in the size of the toad she was perched on. When she found her tongue, she couldn't help voicing her awe.

"Whoa, you're huge!"

Then her brow furrowed, and she leaned forward, crawling on hands and knees to peer over at the left arm and leg braced firmly against the crumbled remains of what had been clusters of rock teeth.

Looking over her shoulder, she spotted a broad blue expanse of what she vaguely recognized as a ridiculously large haori. Blinking uncertainly, she frowned.

"This _is_ a toad...right?"

Crawling over to a large ridge she could see on her right, she leaned over it. Her stomach pressed against the ridge as she hung almost entirely upside down, her braid dangling down beyond her head as she stared down into a large yellow eye with a rectangular pupil.

The eye rolled up to look at her, and for a long moment they stayed like that. Idly, she noticed that she could see her entire reflection in the glossy yellow surface beneath her, and wondered why her mouth was gaping open so widely.

The rumbling voice came again as the toad lifted its head. The sudden shift threw her to the side, and she found herself sitting on his nose, facing the two great eyes that had to nearly cross to see her.

"Oi, girl!"

The eyes narrowed, and his voice was scolding and irritated as well as slightly rough and abrasive.

"Are you the one? Whose head do you think you're prancing around on? I am the Toad Boss, Gamabunta-sama, you fool!"

With a final shout, he knocked her from his nose, and released a stream of air that sent her flying along his pipe. Narumi yelped, skidding across the pole and catching the edge of the bowl.

"What-what's with this guy?"

Suddenly the pipe tipped up, and she found herself staring down, impressed, as he balanced it on his tongue, peering up the shaft at her where she clung to the brass bowl.

"I haven't breathed the air of the outside world in years, and all of the sudden there's a weird, noisy girl-child on my head!"

Sounding distinctly displeased, he began roaring up the gorge, though he was careful not to jar her from her perch. Narumi was impressed that he could speak so clearly and loudly while balancing the long pipe on his tongue.

"OI! Jiraya! Where are you! What's the meaning of this!"

There was a long moment of silence while the Toad waited for a response. When none came, it roared indignantly, even more irate than before.

"Jiraya! Come out, you idiot!"

When nothing happened, Gamabunta shifted his gaze to Narumi, inclining the pipe closer to his face as he peered at her. She yelped slightly, tightening her chakra infused grip on the metal of the pipe.

"Oi, girl."

She swallowed, and answered in her best Ikuye-sensei-is-going-to-kill-me-if-I-don't-behave voice.

"Yes?"

The toads tone was grave, and she was relieved he wasn't shouting anymore.

"Where's Jiraya?"

Narumi blinked, feeling a bit dazed and tentatively questioned him.

"Um...who?"

The pipe tilted closer, and her grip became slightly more perilous. The pipe jostled just a bit, and she found herself dropped unceremoniously unto the Toads nose again.

"That perverted old man who calls himself the Toad Sage."

She blinked, sitting up and staring back at Gamabunta, mind still feeling a bit numb. Then a light flashed on as she remembered her teachers self-introduction when she'd first discovered him at the hot springs. She stared at the toad, speechless.

'_Scary, definitely scary.'_

The toad frowned at her, and then spoke up again in it's gruff voice.

"Well, where is he? If you do as I say, I'll make you my subordinate. SO ANSWER ME!"

The sudden roar took her off guard, and she instinctively threw up an arm to shield her face. Alarmed, she addressed him loudly, instantly, and fervently.

"Yes, sir! The Ero-Sennin is at the top of this cliff, Toad-boss sir!"

Apparently appeased, he tilted his head back, and looked past her towards the top of the gorge, his voice thoughtful.

"The top, huh?"

Narumi swallowed, and then shakily spoke up.

"A-Ano...may I ask something, Boss sir?"

His head dropped again, and his eyes redirected to focus on her.

"What is it?"

She crossed her legs nervously, bracing her hands on her ankles in her usual position, and resisting the urge to squeak.

"Um...what business do you have with Ero-sennin?"

The toad sounded indignant and annoyed when he answered a touch more loudly.

"That's what I want to know! That perverted geezer, why did he summon me to a place like this? What is he up to?"

Narumi blinked, and her eyes widened.

"AH! But..."

The toads eyes swiveled back to her again, and though his manner of speaking was still rough, it didn't sound as alarming as it had before.

"What?"

Narumi rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment, cheeks flushing slightly as she grinned nervously at him.

"I'm the one who summoned you, Toad boss sir. I fell off this cliff, so I was hoping something would help me. Sir!"

She finished this explanation with a respectful shout, and a swift salute. The large yellow eyes narrowed, and focused more intently on her as the Toad grunted in what sounded like astonished disbelief.

Then he threw back his head and roared with laughter.

"That was the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard!"

Now his gaze was slightly amused.

"A small girl-child like you could never summon me!"

Narumi squeaked indignantly, leaning forward as she objected.

"I'm telling the truth! I really did summon you!"

He burst out laughing again, and Narumi moved up to one knee, glaring at him angrily. What was so funny anyway? She'd worked hard for this! His laughter continued loud and long, and she finally decided she'd had enough. Surging to her feet and bracing her hands on her hips, she snarled at him.

"Hey you stupid Toad! I DID summon you! Doesn't that make me your mistress or something?"

The laughter stopped abruptly, and yellow eyes met blue in a clash of wills.

"What did you say? Do you even know who you're talking to? You aren't even old enough to drink yet, and you claim to be MY mistress? Do you want me to kill you?"

The toads long pale tongue suddenly shot out and curved around, wrapping around her and tossing her up onto his head again. Narumi yelped, turning as she landed so that she was facing the same direction as the Toad, and instinctively bracing herself as he adjusted himself.

Then he leapt. Gamabunta jumped straight up with such power and speed that they rose up through the gorge as fast as Narumi had fallen down it. Maybe faster. She went to one knee, resting a clenched fist on her upright knee, and bracing the other hand on Gamabunta's head, staring upwards as the slice of blue sky above them drew closer and closer.

Then they were out, soaring into the sky with the power of the jump. Gamabunta spread his limbs as they reached the apex of their flight and began to descend. As they did, Narumi felt herself start to lift from his back, her braid and jacket almost levitating as they swirled around her.

Alarmed, she quickly channeled chakra into her feet and hands to hold her to the giant Toads head.

Then they were shooting down through the sky, and crashing into the forest beside the gorge. There was a great crash, and Narumi was dimly aware that several trees were crushed beneath them, or at least knocked down, as the giant toad landed on top of them. The blast wave from their landing scent a dramatic rippling wave through the surrounding greenery, and Narumi watched it in amazement.

The impact threw her off her balance, and she tumbled from the toads head. Quickly she scrambled to her feet and turned. And stared. Before her was a truly gigantic dull orange and red toad, easily bigger than the hokage tower. It wore a blue haori, a large ragged scar ran down across its face across it's right eye that was quite similar to Kakashi-sensei's, and a pipe protruded from its mouth.

Awed, she couldn't help blurting out her reaction.

"Wow! Amazing..."

Gamabunta roared with laughter, and leaned down so that his face was close to her again, nudging her torso hard with his nose, his tone jovially amused.

"Hey girl! Even if I assume that you summoned me, I"m not gonna accept a kid who falls off my back so easily."

Sitting back up, he looked around, seemingly calm, before looking back at her.

"Now then, I haven't been out here in a while. So if Jiraya has no business with me, I'll just hang around here for a while."

Turning slowly away from her, he made as if to move away into the forest. Narumi took a step forward, calling out.

"H-hey! Wait a minute!"

Gamabunta scoffed, voice scolding.

"Go home and sleep, girl-child! You can't even handle being my subordinate."

Laughing, he started to crawl away through the forest. Narumi glared after him with desperate indignation. Her dander up, she growled out a curse and dashed after him, and leapt onto his back.

Without losing her momentum, she dashed up the slope of his haori, and flipped over his head, somersaulting through the air to land on his nose, and spinning around to face him with a fierce glare. Surprised, the Toad reared back and stared at her.

"Wha..? What are you trying to do, kid?"

Narumi scowled determinedly up at him, fire blazing in her blue eyes.

"If you're not going to accept that I summoned you if I fall off you're back, then I'll just stay here all day and not fall off, 'ttebayo!"

Turning her back on him, she plopped down cross-legged on his nose, and crossed her arms over her chest. Gamabunta's voice was questioning.

"What?"

Narumi twisted around to glare at his slightly amused tone, gaze hard and sharp from behind the fall of her bright bangs.

"And I'll make you accept me as your Mistress, 'ttebayo. Watch me!"

Gamabunta reared back angrily, roaring at her.

"You stupid kid! I was being nice to you, and now you've gotten impudent!"

Thrashing his head back and forth, up and down, he bellowed irately at her.

"Fall! Fall off!"

Grimly, she rolled to one knee, and did as she'd done when they were falling, using chakra in her hands and feet to cling to his skin. Gritting her teeth, she flung her head back and yelled up at him, doing her best to ignore the dizzying swing of the land beneath her.

"I'm not gonna fall, 'ttebayo!"

When she wasn't flung from her perch, Gamabunta charged off to one side through the trees, still thrashing his head violently. Narumi grimly clung on, and locked her jaw, doing her level best to suppress the roiling nausea rising in her gut.

The came in sight of a large lake, and Gamabunta leapt high into the air, plummeting into it with a huge splash. Narumi held her breath determinedly as the great Toad sank to the floor of the lake and squatted there.

He shook his head again, and Narumi had to hold on even more tightly as the water tried to drag her from her chosen place. After a long moment, he sprang up, and burst from the surface of the lake with another powerful jump.

As they cleared the water, Narumi dragged in a deep breath, exhaled, and managed another one before they were plunging back beneath the surface. This time, however, he broke the surface fairly quickly, using his strong legs to speed back and forth across the lake, and this time it was the wind she had to fight.

The day dragged slowly on, until finally it was sunset. Narumi had run out of chakra sometime later in the day, and was now clinging grimly to the edge of the hoari Gamabunta wore. Glancing at the horizon, she shouted at the Toad who was leaping through the forest at high speed.

"It's almost sunset! If I stay on all day you have to acknowledge me!"

Gamabunta growled at her, though he was no longer shouting and bellowing.

"I never agreed to that, you decided it on your own!"

Narumi scowled determinedly, tightening her fists in the folds of heavy cloth beneath her.

"I'm not gonna fall off, 'ttebayo!"

A few minutes later, Gamabunta came to a halt, holding more still than he had since she'd first made her declaration. Panting for breath, she lifted her head and looked around dazedly, wondering if it was over as her arms trembled from the tight grip she'd maintained for so long.

Gamabunta turned and looked over his shoulder at her.

"Girl, what's your name?"

Surging up on her hands and knees, even as she kept her hands fisted in the Haori, she grinned ferociously at him.

"Narumi! Narumi Uzumaki!"

He looked at her for a long moment.

"Narumi Uzumaki, huh?"

Turning away, he crouched down, and she tensed even as his amused voice rumbled back to her.

"Narumi, don't blame me if you die!"

Then he leapt into the air, higher and harder than ever before. The force of the wind rushing past them, slammed Narumi hard against his back, and the cloth she'd secured her braid with tore off, her hair rapidly unweaving to swirl and snap in the wind.

When they came down, she was surprised to find them at the base of the waterfall that poured into the very stretch of river where she'd been training for the past three weeks and four days. They'd come all the way back to the hot spring town.

The force of the landing had flung her to the side, and she could feel herself sliding off. Rising to her knees even as she felt her balance loosing out, she growled.

"I won't fall! Just a little more!"

Lifting her hands into the cross shaped hand sign, she summoned ten shadow clones. The clones appeared on Gamabunta's head and back, surging forward to catch her arms and haul her back up.

Blinking, Narumi stumbled forward across his head and onto his nose, landing heavily on her hands and knees. Looking up, she found the sun sliding beneath the horizon. Giddy triumph blossomed in her chest, and she leapt up, pumping her fist into the air with a loud whoop.

"See that, Boss! I stayed on your back! I...I did it..."

As she spoke, the last of her energy faded away, and she fell backwards from her perch. She was still conscious, but she couldn't seem to find the energy to move. She was distantly aware of her own disappointment. She'd almost made it.

Before she could hit the water, Gamabunta opened his mouth. His long tongue shot out, and caught her before she could make it halfway to the ground. She blinked exhaustedly up at him as the long tongue gently coiled around her and lifted her back up.

When he spoke, the gruff voice was kind, and affectionate.

"That's too bad. You almost made it to the end of the day."

Gently , he laid her atop his head, and as she blinked up at the sky, her eyelids felt incredibly heavy. She was so, so tired.

'_I wonder if it'd be alright to sleep on Boss' head?'_

Before she could ponder the suggestion more, she saw the summoning scroll that she'd signed three weeks ago come spinning down from the top of the waterfall. Rolling over, she peered exhaustedly down at where it lay.

It had rolled open, and Gamabunta was staring at it. Narumi looked at her own name for a long minute, sprawling down the creamy parchment in a fluid series of deep red strokes stopped at five small finger prints. Then she sighed and let her eyes close. She'd just rest her eyes. Just for a minute.

* * *

><p>Narumi surged up gasping, eyes wide open as she looked wildly around her. Gamabunta! If she could just stay on his head...<p>

When her eyes met sterile white surfaces, and her nose was flooded with the scents of old blood and disinfectant, she frowned. The hospital? Why was she back here? What had happened?

She looked idly down at herself, and found that she'd been changed into a deep blue tank top and loose black shorts, and her hair was unbound again. Frowning irately, she snagged her hair tie from the bedside table, and swiftly wove her hair back into a loose braid, trying to remember what had happened as she worked.

The last thing she remembered was closing her eyes for a moment on Gamabunta's head, and feeling incredibly tired. She wondered if Ero-sennin had brought her to the hospital after whatever had happened to her.

But she didn't feel like she'd been wounded at all. Normally, even if the Kyuubi healed her injuries almost instantly, she'd feel a phantom ache in the area for a while afterward. And if it was an injury large enough to put her in the hospital, she ought to feel something.

Instead, she just felt like she'd woken up from a very long sleep. Shrugging, she rolled her shoulders back and tossed her braid across her shoulder blades.

Just as she was beginning to feel really frustrated, the door to her room slid open, and she found herself looking up at Shika. The dark eyed girl blinked at her in surprise, and then grinned easily.

"Hey, Narumi-chan! You're finally up!"

Narumi stared at her in bewilderment, shifting so that she was sitting cross-legged on the narrow bed, and furrowed her brow at her friend.

"Shika? Why am I here?"

The Nara girl walked over to lean casually on the foot of the blondes bed, and Narumi noticed a can in her hand, the sides still beaded with perspiration. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught site of a half finished shogi game on the table beside her. Shika must have been sitting with her for a while.

"I'm the one who should be asking you that. You've been asleep for three days straight. The nurse said it was chakra exhaustion."

Shika's dark brows arched elegantly upwards, expression half concerned, half intrigued.

"Mind telling me what you were doing that you managed to drain your chakra that far?"

Narumi understood her friends expression better now. Almost everyone at the Academy had always immidiatly assumed that the blonde was weak and lazy, destined to remain so and to fall behind the others her age.

Shika had never been like that. Not even once. Since they had started learning their very first nin- and taijutsu basics, she had never looked down on her. Narumi had asked her about it once, and the Nara had muttered something about stupidly high chakra reserves.

Narumi shook the thoughts from her head, and returned Shika's earlier grin with the same mischievous, secretive edge that had always stolen over her face during the preparation and execution of a particularly brilliant prank.

"Just training."

Shika snorted, but pressed the issue no further, merely muttering a single word under her breath.

"Troublesome."

Narumi blinked, rubbing the back of her head and looking around in confusion.

"Ne, ne! Shika-chan, where's Ero-sennin?"

Shika had just opened her can and taken a long drink as the blonde queried her. Her eyes shot wide open, and she choked, yanking the can away from her mouth and spluttering as she stared wide-eyed at the other kunoichi.

"What? What are you talking about?"

Narumi blinked in surprise and gestured wildly with her arms, scrambling up to stand on the bed so as to better communicate the mans height.

"Ero-sennin! You know, the guy with white hair longer than Ikuye-sensei who's always saying that he's a super pervert!"

Shika stared up the girl dazedly, amusement and shock mixing together in her eyes.

"You mean that Jiraya guy?"

Narumi nodded enthusiastically, and Shika shrugged.

"He was here for the first day or so. Then he said that he had places to be, and to tell you good job when you woke up."

Shrugging, the dark haired girl reached back to adjust her hairband so that it pulled her hair more tightly back.

"He also said to tell you to kick butt in the finals."

Narumi blinked down at the Nara, and then a slow grin spread across her face. Laughing, she plopped down on the side of the bed and kicked her bare feet in the air. Feeling like she was brimming with confidence and chakra both, she pumped her fist in the air.

"Of course, 'ttebayo!"

Just as she said that, her stomach growled loudly, reminding her that she'd most likely been fed intravenously for the past three days, and her body wanted some real food.

Shika shook her head, and picked up a basket from the floor. It was filled with ripe fruit. Peaches, apples, and other in-season fruits. Narumi lit up, and Shika shrugged.

"I figured you'd be hungry when you woke up, and ramen all the time is bad for you."

Narumi huffed and looked away.

"I do not eat ramen all the time. Besides, it's great!"

Shika merely made a non-committal sound and grabbed an apple from the basket, crunching into it lazily. Narumi yelped indignantly and snatched a juicy looking peach.

"Hey! No fair eating without me!"

Shika merely flapped a hand at her, taking another bite of apple. Narumi stuck her tongue out at her friend, and then sank her teeth into the peach. Fresh, sweet juice and the firm, succulent flesh of the fruit filled her mouth with cool, delicious flavor.

Her eyes slid half closed as she chewed and swallowed, sighing happily.

"Oooh. That's yummy!"

Shika rolled her eyes, and jabbed Narumi teasingly in the arm.

"Don't sound so surprised."

Narumi opened her mouth to answer, and then frowned. Something was odd. It had been bothering her for a while, probably ever since she woke up.

At first it was barely noticeable, like a stirring at the back of her neck. But it had grown in her mind steadily, until it was like an unreachable itch. And the worst part was, she couldn't put her finger on what was bothering her.

Shika lowered her apple and frowned back at her friend, eyes narrowing.

"What is it?"

Narumi shook her head absently, and instinctively took in a deep breath. Something about the scent? Yes and no.

There was definitely something there, but the whole building was practically soaked in antiseptic and disinfectant, and the stringent smells covered up the subtle nuances of scent that held the answers she was looking for.

Turning aside from the problem of the scent, Narumi shifted to her other senses. While she was not stupid or slow the way most of the residents of Konoha believed, she did tend to rely more on her body and her instincts when she had a problem to solve. Thinking usually came after, to develop a plan for whatever action her instincts told her to take.

Listening hard, she cocked her head, eyes sliding closed as she focused, the hand holding her peach falling lightly to rest on her knee. Something about the sound of the hospital bothered her.

Shoving away the sound of Shika breathing, and her own heartbeat, she listened closer. Then her eyes snapped open, and she stared at her friend in confused surprise. There was no sound of footsteps or movement.

"I can't hear anyone out in the hall."

Shika raised an eyebrow at the oddly serious expression on Narumi's face, and then scratched the back of her head idly, the movement less habitual than Narumi's rubbing at her neck.

"Well, I guess I didn't really see anyone in the hall when I went to the snack machine. I checked the nurses station, and they left a sign saying they went for lunch."

When the Nara let her voice fade questioningly, the blonde shrugged uncomfortably. "I just...feel like there's something odd."

Shika's intelligent eyes narrowed, and then she nodded. Kunoichi trusted their instincts, to a higher degree even than male shinobi. If Narumi was feeling uneasy, Shika would be on alert. Especially considering that Narumi was normally so confident, and the village was currently hosting foreign shinobi practically by the droves.

Narumi shifted, and decided it was time to turn the conversation away from just how on edge she felt right now.

"So, Lee had to fight Gaara, right? How'd that go?"

Shika suddenly froze, eyes narrowing slightly and shoulders stiffening.

"You haven't heard?"

Narumi cocked her head, puzzled.

"Heard what?"

Shika sighed, leaning back slightly in her chair, and shoving her hands in her pockets. She'd donned her more comfortable civilian clothes rather than the form-fitting kunoichi garb Inori had purchased for her.

"About Lee. He put up a good fight but Gaara can somehow control sand. I've never seen anything like it. I don't think it's even a jutsu. Anyway, Gaara crushed his arm and his leg. They're saying he may not be able to continue as a shinobi."

Narumi felt like someone had thrown ice on her, a sudden chill washing across her skin and settling in the pit of her stomach, heavy and cold. When she spoke, her voice was sharp and defiant.

"What? That's stupid. Lee would never let anything like that keep him down."

Nodding decisively, she scrambled off the bed, and took another bite of the peach, ignoring the trail of sticky juice trickling over her fingers. She took a minute to swallow, and then hooked her arm around Shika's, heading for the door as the Nara yelped and snatched at the basket.

"Come on, let's go share the fruit with Lee."

Shika's expression was somewhat exasperated as she sighed, half protesting as she allowed herself to be pulled down the eerily empty hall of the hospital by her barefoot friend.

"I'm not sure the nurses will appreciate..."

Narumi snorted, lifting her peach high over her head as if brandishing a weapon.

"If they give us trouble, we'll attack them with fruit bombs and force them to retreat, 'ttebayo! Konoha shinobi do not abandon comrades to eat hospital food alone!"

Shika rolled her eyes and followed her exuberant friend, muttering quietly under her breath.

"Troublesome."

Halfway down the hall, Narumi turned to look over her shoulder sheepishly at the darker kunoichi behind her.

"Ne, Shika? Do you know where Lee's room is?"

Shika rolled her eyes at the other girl and took the lead.

"Sheesh. How troublesome."

They headed up two flights of stairs and were almost to the end of the hall when a wave of intense sakki hit them. Both girls froze for an instant, eyes going wide. Narumi caught her breath, recognition racing through her.

This sakki, the feel of the chakra that accompanied it. Both had a distinctly red tint in her mind. A red tint that she now associated with the raging presence of the Kyuubi. Her eyes widened further, as recognition was followed by realization.

Chakra and sakki, both tainted by the presence of a Bijuu, but not a Bijuu itself. The presence, the blood thirst, all were too weak for that. She knew the strength of a Bijuu's presence now that she had encountered the Kyuubi.

That meant only one thing. Suddenly desperate longing and curiosity washed over her, feeling like living creatures clawing at her gut. Whoever was generating all this was someone like her. Someone who would understand.

Before she could think too deeply about this though, she found the room that the chakra was leaking from. Lee's room. Suddenly her half formed thoughts of finding a friend from whom she wouldn't have to keep secrets left her.

The whole inner debate took less than half a second. Striding forward, she slid the door open swiftly, and her eyes widened.

Tousled red hair, pale teal eyes rimmed with black, dull desert clothing, a gourd held to a back by a long white sash. Sabaku no Gaara stood over Lee, who lay sleeping in his bed.

The red head was holding his hand out over the other boy like a claw, and sand writhed around the Konoha genins form. Gaara's eyes were bloodshot, and his scent was sharply spiked with the metallic tint that had put her on edge before.

Shika had recovered from the shock of the sakki slower than Narumi, probably due to her lack of resistance to Bijuu level killing intent. Even in this diluted form, it was quite nearly on par with Orochimaru's.

The Nara shook off the last of her numbness, and swiftly came up beside Narumi. The two of them stepped into the room together, and Shika crouched, pressing her hands together.

In less than a moment, she had Gaara ensnared in her families Kagemane Jutsu. Narumi strode forward, scowling, blue eyes snapping with fire, anger pumping through her veins.

Right now, what she was looking at was a foreign shinobi. A foreign shinobi who was standing over one of her defenseless and wounded comrades, with the clear intent to harm. She wouldn't stand for it!

Her voice was hot with fury as she snapped over her shoulder at her friend. The sand was already withdrawing back into the gourd, and Gaara's attention was firmly on the two of them now.

"Let it go, Shika."

The dark kunoichi nodded once, releasing the Suna-nin's shadow. Gaara started to turn towards them, his eyes narrow and angry. Narumi ignored his expression, and she reached him too fast for him to defend himself properly.

Cocking her fist back, she twisted her body around, and threw her strength into the punch, striking him squarely and solidly across the face. Not enough of it to break his neck, or even his jaw, but enough to make him hurt. And probably bruise.

"Bastard! What do you think you're doing?"

Her angry shouts bounced off the hard surfaces of the tile and white painted walls.

Strange teal eyes turned back to her, and she met them fearlessly. The boy looked oddly calm for someone who just moments ago had been oozing such ferocious sakki. Especially considering that she'd just punched him.

A strange spider-webbing pattern of cracks was spreading across his cheek from the place where she'd struck him, and sand trickled slowly from the apparent cracks in his face.

Narumi glared. Her knuckles still stung from that. He could at least have the decency to be upset about being hit! Shika moved up beside her so that they were standing shoulder to shoulder across from the boy.

Shika's posture was relaxed and at ease, her hands shoved contentedly in her pockets, her shoulders slumped. However, her brown eyes were alert and intent, scanning Gaara quickly.

Narumi was tense, balanced on the balls of her feet, body slightly turned so as to present a smaller target, arms held slightly away from her sides and knees somewhat bent as she glared at the boy from behind her bright bangs.

Angrily she shouted at him again, though Shika's warning glance kept her from lunging at the boy again. Foreign or not, attacker or not, it would be stupid to just charge in at him. Especially considering he had beat Lee, who Narumi knew was probably the top taijutsu user in the current crop of genin.

"Hey! Did you hear me? What did you try to do to Lee?"

The Suna genin stared cooly back at the two agitated kunoichi, and then spoke in a flat, dead voice. As if the answer was obvious, and he didn't particularly care if they knew or not.

"I tried to kill him."

Both girls stiffened, Shika sliding back half a step, and Narumi widening her eyes before leaning forward slightly, tilting her chin down as if she were leaning into a strong wind.

Instantly, Shika moved to restrain him again. It wasn't very difficult thanks to the abundance of shadows created by the setting sun streaming in through the window. Once she had him, she spoke, voice sharp and precise, with an undercurrent of anger.

No Konoha-nin, no matter how laid back, would not feel anger when seeing an injured comrade threatened by an outsider.

"Why would you need to do that, exactly? You've already won the match. Lee's no longer a participant in the exams. Do you have some sort of personal grudge against him?"

Gaara didn't even shrug, apparently un-phased by the fact that he had once again lost control of his own body.

"No, I don't. I'm just going to kill him because I want him to die."

Narumi slid forward a couple of steps, gravitating towards Lee's bed, and growling at the red haired boy in front of them.

"LIke we'd ever let that happen! You're just a selfish brat!"

Narumi could see that Shika was tense, but the other girls voice and stance remained relaxed, masking her unease from all but those who knew her well.

"Yes. Nothing but an egocentric boy."

Gaara's dull eyes slid over to lock gazes with Narumi, and she lifted her chin, staring challengingly back at him. His flat voice floated across the space between them, devoid of any emotion or infliction.

"If you get in my way, I'll kill you too."

Hissing in anger, blue eyes narrowing to mere slits, Narumi barred her teeth at him in a feral snarl.

"Just try it, bastard! I'll PULVERIZE you!"

Shika cleared her throat, a confident smirk spreading across her face as she caught Gaara's attention.

"I saw your match with that guy on the bed you know. I'll acknowledge that you're pretty strong. But then again, so am I, and so is this girl here. Two against one is not great odds. You're the one at a disadvantage here..."

With a slow shrug, she allowed her smirk to turn lazy, never breaking eye contact with the red haired boy who had turned slightly to face them both.

"...though I guess, if you listen to us, we could let you go."

Gaara ignored the Nara's words, expression not even twitching as he leaned forward, his voice a bit lower and more menacing, but otherwise unchanged.

"I'll only say this one more time. Get in my way and I'll kill you."

Narumi snorted, lifting her chin and crossing her arms, lips curling back in a half threatening smirk that bared her abnormally sharp canines.

"Huh! You can't kill me, 'ttebayo!"

Shika whipped her head around, hissing worriedly at her friend, eyes concerned and alarmed as she scolded the blonde.

"Narumi! Stop provoking him! The guy's a monster!"

Narumi merely rocked back on her heels, smirk morphing into a full out menacing grin.

"I'm not scared of him. I've already got a real monster inside me! I won't lose to this kid."

Shika shook her head, and looked heavenward as if asking for patience.

"Narumi! That doesn't even make sense! Just leave it and quit antagonizing him!"

Gaara, however, looked somewhat intrigued. For a moment, faded teal eyes locked with vibrant blue, and then his eyes were sliding closed, and he as speaking to her.

"A monster, huh? Then I guess you could say that I'm the same. My father sealed the Ichibi, the Bijuu of the desert, into me before I was born, and I killed my mother when I came into this world."

Shika's scent told Narumi she was confused and apprehensive, but the blonde ignored it, focused on the boy in front of her as his eyes slid open to lock onto her gaze.

"I was a monster from the day I was born."

Narumi's eyes widened very, very slightly, and her nostrils flared, taking his scent in slowly and tentatively, though she didn't relax or move towards him. So she was right, then. Gaara was like her, a Jinchuriki.

She didn't know how she felt about that. All she knew was that it was important.

Shika forced out a grim chuckle. "Huh. How twisted. That's not the way a parent should love their child."

Gaara's scent took on a dangerous edge, that metallic scent growing stronger, and Narumi began to be uneasy. She eyed her fellow jinchuriki carefully as his eyes bored into Shika.

"Love? Don't judge me by your ideals."

Narumi gritted her teeth and narrowed her eyes, staring hard at the boy, her blood rising. He ignored her, still focused on Shika, who held him secure and motionless with her Kagemane.

"Family? To me, those people are just lumps of meat, linked by hatred and the common desire to kill. I stole my mothers life for the sake of my own existence, and was created for the purpose of being the perfect weapon of my village. Nothing more, nothing less. That is what I believed, until I was six years old."

Narumi stared wide eyed at him, breath hissing back and forth through her teeth in harsh pants. She didn't think she would like what came next. Hell, she knew she wouldn't. She knew what it was like to be jinchuriki. To be hated.

"When I was six, my father, the Kazekage, decided that I was too dangerous to live. So he ordered me killed. In the six years since then, I have survived constant assassination attempts."

The expression on his face was slightly crazed, and fear entered Shika's scent. When Narumi glanced at her, she could see that despite the firm set of her friends jaw, she was feeling a bit sick.

The blonde snorted slightly. It was bad alright. But it wasn't beyond the scope of her imagination, and it didn't shock her like it did Shika. After all, hadn't there been times when she'd wondered what would happen to her if O-jiji got angry one day, and stopped protecting her from the villagers on her birthday, the anniversary of the Kyuubi attack?

Shika gritted her teeth, narrowed her eyes, and growled disbelievingly at the boy in front of her.

"Didn't you just say that the Kazekage trained you to exist for your village? Then how...why...?"

Gaara tilted his head, bloodshot eyes too wide, a strange grin stretching his face unnaturally in a way that sent shudders down Narumi's spine. She wished Teruyoshi were here. The older Suna-nin had seemed to be able to calm his younger brother, appease him.

"After I turned six, they decided my emotions and mind were too unstable, and that I was a threat to the village. So I was classified as a dangerous being. I became a relic of a dark past they wish to forget. I could no longer exist for the village."

Tilting his head forward, he smirked slowly up at them, and Narumi's instincts screamed at her to attack. Dangerous. He felt too dangerous to stand idly in his presence, despite the fact that he was thoroughly restrained by the Nara family jutsu.

"So why do I exist? What is my purpose? Everyone needs something to live for don't they? Else you might as well be dead. I lost mine. For a long time I couldn't find it."

From her place by the door, Shika sucked in a sharp breath, her voice confused and alarmed.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Narumi felt a bead of sweat roll down her temple, and pressed her lips together grimly, conflicted emotions raging through her body. _'I understand. I don't like it, but I do. This guy...he's just like me.'_

Gaara's eyes slid around so that he was looking at her, and she wondered if he realized what she was. If he also knew how alike they were, how much she understood of what he was saying. Of the things that no one else could understand.

"And then I found it. I exist to kill everyone other than myself. This is what I learned from killing those who would kill me, those sent by the man who sired me. I fight only for myself, and love only myself. As long as there are people for me to kill, I will exist."

Narumi was vaguely aware of Shika in the background, and the scent of her terror. But she was almost entirely focused on the boy in front of her. Her fists had gone slack, and she was staring at him dazedly, her mind echoing with his words.

'_I was alone too. I didn't know the reason for my existence. I was hated. I wondered why I was even here a couple of times. He and I...we're the same. But...but in the end, Ikuye-sensei acknowledged me. She showed me how to exist, how to live!'_

The blonde swallowed, sick horror filling the pit of her stomach and forcing acidic bile to the top of her throat, sweat sliding down her temples, the small of her back, across her abdomen, and between her breasts.

'_But this guy...he's been alone this whole time. And this is the result. If it hadn't been for Ikuye-sensei, would I have been like this?'_

Shuddering, she clenched her fists even tighter than before, the skin of her palms squeaking slightly as the blood was forced from her knuckles. She swallowed again, forcing down the urge to vomit, blinking hard, and clenching her teeth.

'_I won't back down! Not now! My reason for living is different than his. I have to protect my comrades, my precious people! Just like Ikuye-sensei and Kakashi-sensei taught me. And he's threatening them.'_

Just as this thought crossed her mind, sand surged up in a great wave around him, flowing through the air like ribbon through water. Shika started backwards with a curse, releasing her apparently ineffective Kagemane and calling out sharply.

"Narumi!"

The other kunoichi didn't need the prompt. She was already in motion, determinedly shooting between Gaara and Lee. She was closest to him now, and as such became the redheads first target.

He turned towards her, his eyes twitching oddly as sand surged towards her, and his crazed voice echoed slightly in her ears.

"Let me prove..."

Narumi's hand went instinctively to her weapons holster, only to find it missing, her fingers brushing at nothing but the soft, loose cloth of the shorts she'd woken up in. Desperately, she started to lift her hands into the sign for Kage Bunshin, hoping she could take the Suna-nin ought through the sheer weight of numbers.

Shika was racing towards her, but wouldn't make it in time. Before the sand could hit though, a strong voice rang out from the doorway.

"That's enough."

All three genin froze. Gaara's eyes slid over to the door, and Shika whipped her head around to stare over her shoulder, obviously unwilling to present Gaara with an opportunity as tempting as an unguarded back.

When Narumi followed their gaze, she found Maito Gai in all his green, spandex covered glory. He was staring at them with a remarkably calm, if serious and disapproving, face.

"The main matches are being held tomorrow. There's no need to get hasty and disqualify yourselves now."

As the green beast of Konoha advanced into the room, Gaara clutched at his head, staring wildly at the man and backing up a pace. The sand, which had been hovering over all three Konoha genin, including Lee, withdrew suddenly and swiftly, flowing back into the gourd.

Gaara made a pained noise, his fingers twisting painfully in his own hair. Then he seemed to still, getting a hold of himself and glaring at the room at large. The moment passed so quickly, Narumi almost thought she might have imagined it.

Turning away from the two girls, the Suna-nin stalked towards the door, the fingers of one hand still tangled in his hair, holding his head as if he had a headache. Before he left, he stopped in the doorframe, glaring ferociously back over his shoulder at the girls.

"I will kill you guys for sure. You just wait."

And then he was gone, pacing slowly from the room with control in every line of his body, even to the calm and disturbingly level tone he used to threaten them.

Narumi stared after him, eyes wide, fists trembling slightly, adrenaline coursing through her system at a fierce pace. The bloody tint of the dying sunlight painting the room makes it all too easy to picture Lee and Shika's blood splattered across the floor and bed.

Narumi clenched her hands tighter, gritting her teeth so strongly that it hurts. She wouldn't have been able to fight that sand. Even with shadow clones, she knew that she wouldn't have been able to protect both her comrades. Maybe not even one of them.

'_I'm still weak. Much too weak.'_

She barely heard Gai-sensei speaking to her and Shika, escorting them to the nurses station so that Narumi could retrieve her clothing and gear, and then sending them both on their way.

She was assured back to her room, where she numbly changed back into her mission garb, returning the hospital clothing to the nurse before wandering out into the street. Shika had gone home after she'd been assured that Narumi was fit to be released.

Narumi wandered through the darkened streets of Konoha, thinking hard. Before she realized it, she found herself standing in front of the door to her apartment. Blinking, she slipped her hand into her pocket and fumbled her key out.

Sliding it into the lock, she slipped into the entryway of her tiny apartment, closing the door firmly behind her and flipping the lock back. Leaning back against the door, she tangled a hand in her bangs, resting the heel of her hand against the smooth metal plate of her hitae-ate.

After a minute, she pushed away from the door, yanked her feet from her sandals, and made her way to the bedroom. Staring at her bed, she frowned. Reaching up, she pulled her hitae-ate from her forehead.

Using her free hand, she stripped out of her gear, laying it aside before stepping out of her clothes and changing into her pajamas. All the time she was changing, she kept her Hitae-ate clenched firmly in her hand.

Walking over to the bed, she sprawled across it on her back, and lifted the smooth cloth above her. Looking at it intently, she ran the fingertips of her free hand over the deep groves of the spiral in the center of the leaf symbol.

Slowly, she lowered it to her chest, pressing the symbol face down against her heart, feeling the beat of her blood in the depths of her chest. Her eyes slid closed, and she envisioned a fiery Konoha symbol hanging before her, the spiral in the center burning bright blue.

"Tomorrow. It's tomorrow."

Sighing, she opened her eyes, and turned her head to look out the window at the stars twinkling high above the village she'd sworn her life, blood, and loyalty to. Her thoughts drifted to the red haired Suna Jinchuriki.

Her eyes hardened, and her hand tightened on the hitae-ate. The next beat of her heart seemed to thunder against her chest, as if resonating with the strength of her feeling, and the symbol pressed into her flesh through the thin material of her shirt.

"I could have been that. But I'm not. I'm Kunoichi of Konoha. Always and forever."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Hey guys!

Not only did I survive finals week, my update is only a couple days late! (Sorry about that, but it was the best I could do)! Really am quite proud of this!

Okay, on to the reviews (By the way, thank you guys so much! This is the most reviews I've ever gotten from an update, and it really made for a bright spot during my week!)  
>To jayley, yeah, this was definitely from Korra. I did my best to research actual martial arts training methods, but it was really hard to find what I was looking for. And then I saw that episode of "Legend of Korra" and it was like "Dude, that is EXACTLY what I was looking for!" So yeah. Wish I had something else for you guys, but that's as deep as it goes. As to the pervert thing, they're not actually perverts in the truest sense of the word. Not one of them would actually touch Narumi. Ero-sennin...well that's just how he is. Not to worry though! Kakashi is here to break limbs if she gets in any real trouble! (And he will. With extreme prejudice.)<br>To 10-iz4, I was happy to hear from you again (^_^). Yep, Ebisu is just too perfect for comic relief to change that role. I hope you enjoyed this latest chapter!  
>To Bored and Sleep with Waffles, I'm really glad you've liked Kakashi. I know there aren't many people who are overly fond of Kakashi, but I've always sort of seen him as the papa bear type, even when you look at original cannon. And I can only see that growing exponentially if he is dealing with not his sensei's only son, but his only <em>daughter<em>. So yeah. When she does get to the bombshell-falling-in-love stage...there's gonna be one heck of a gatekeeper. Heh heh heh. Jiraya is largely unchanged at this point, but he does have a girl to deal with instead of a boy. So that will be fun. I hope that you enjoyed the chapter (^0^)/".  
>To Zandamh, wow, I think this is one of the best compliments I've ever received. Really, thank you so much. I am very happy to hear that you enjoy the story so much, and I'll do my best to keep it that way. I'm glad to hear you liked Ebisu. While I was quite determined to have him keep going with comic relief, the man does have a sense of honor about 'shamelessness'. I just couldn't see him taking Narumi's innocence lightly.<br>To Ceralyn, I prefer Jiraya to Ebisu as well! Also, I'm also watching and really enjoying the new "Legend of Korra" series. Awesome isn't she? I hope you continue to enjoy my story!  
>To Zelga Lim Li, yeah, Saburo is not in love with Sasuke. Sorry. Cannot give anything further away about that part of the story...sorry (^_-). One gender I can clarify...Itachi is still a man. Yep. Not a girl. That would just feel...so wrong...<br>To firehottie, so glad to hear from you! Always love to know that someone truly likes the stories. Getting your review was what gave me the push to finish up the last bit of this chapter as quickly as I did, so thank you for that! Hope you liked the most recent chapter!

So! On to the explanations!

Jiraya is a bit rough with her at this point, because he knows that the seal Minato used is designed to allow her to use the Kyuubi's chakra. So he wanted to push her into mastering it. Really, I think he's underestimating the Bijuu a bit, but his intentions were good. Though really, I can't see him getting that punch past Minato. In his defense, he felt like it was necessary...but yeah. Probably not his best idea to get on the yondaime's bad side.

The Kyuubi interaction! Kyuubi is pretty much the same. However, he expects less from her because she is a girl. Mainly because he sees human women as weak, even the kunoichi. But Narumi managed to surprise him a bit. He doesn't respect or like her per se. But he does think she has a bit more potential than the other human women he's encountered. That is to say, even Narumi's mother, Kushina, cowered a bit when she first encountered him in her mind-scape.

Gamabunta. He also takes her a bit less seriously at first because she's a girl. But because she stuck with him in the end, he respects her more for it than he would if she was a guy. He also really does think of her as his 'subordinate' at this point, and feels very protective towards her because she's a girl. He was, in fact, the one who took her to the hospital after she passed out, and also shared some of his chakra with her to make recovery easier for her. And yeah, he recognizes whose daughter she is.

When she wakes up in the hospital with Shika, that's because Shika is really quite protective of her. Shika is, of course, really smart. She figured out a long, long time ago that Narumi wasn't actually stupid. Just not classroom oriented. So she actually thinks Narumi has quite a bit of potential, which started her watching her friend more closely. Which led her to figuring out there was something going on. She doesn't know about the Kyuubi, but she does know that people hate her, and that's made her quite protective of her. So yeah, that's why she was there. Saburo isn't because he wasn't told she's there. He's a bit out of the loop, because he's off trying to get stronger

The interaction with Gaara. Gaara is still pretty much the same at this point. Narumi is not. She is more level-headed, and she's more introspective. Because she's more introspective, she's already thought about what she's fighting for, and what she's willing to die for. She's a little more scared about Gaara, because she knows just how easy it would have been for her to be that. Which is terrifying for her. Which is why she has to take some time to remind herself of what she is, and what she's decided to be.

She also has a deep empathy for Gaara, and identifies with him strongly. While she loves her village and her comrades, she also feels that if they not on such opposite sides, she could have a strong friendship with him. She also really wants to have a friend who she feels like could understand and accept anything and everything she could ever say. And on some levels, she feels like the only person she could be that open with, is another jinchuriki.

**Hope that helps explain things. Please do read and review for me!**


	13. Invasion

Teruyoshi lay on his back in his futon, staring silently up at the ceiling of their room at the inn. Kankuro was stretched out next to him, face oddly vulnerable looking without his usual pattern of kabuki makeup.

Turning his head slightly, Teruysohi glanced at the empty futon beyond the other boy. It had been laid out every night since they'd arrived for Gaara. But his youngest brother never slept.

Matter of fact, he spent most nights outside the room entirely. Of course, Baki-sensei never expressed concern over his youngest charges unhealthy sleeping habits, or lack there-of. A fact that never sat well with the eldest of his students.

The blonde sighed slightly, turning over to stare out the large window on his other side. He always opened it before they slept, so that his youngest brother could return easily.

Even if Gaara was supposed to be a monster, he was also Teruyoshi's baby brother, and the blonde worried about him.

Staring out the window, he breathed deeply as a soft breeze wound through the window and ruffled his hair gently. The night air of Konoha was warm and soft, comforting, filled with the scent of water, and greenery, and peace.

He relished the feel of the air caressing his cheek, so different from the harshly frigid air of the desert nights he was accustomed to.

Konoha was very different from his home. Water was everywhere, even in the air, and mighty trees, larger and stronger than any Teruyoshi had ever seen towered high into the air.

The ground here was different too, solid and firm beneath his feet, unlike the shifting sands he had walked all his life. He had noticed that the people here, from civilians to shinobi, tended to strike firm stances, planting their feet determinedly on the earth as they faced an issue head-on.

Perhaps what had struck him the most about this country. When he and his brothers had first been traveling here, he had thought that the shinobi would be soft. With all the lush prosperity he saw here, he could not imagine the surroundings breeding strength.

Besides, it was a widely known fact that the shinobi of Konoha were a bit odd. He'd heard the older shinobi of his village muttering about their strangeness, and the 'will of fire' that was so often mentioned, and yet apparently never explained.

However, when he'd come here, he hadn't seen weakness. At first they'd all seemed stupidly laid back, foolishly relaxed. But then Kankuro had tried to mess with that kid, and they'd abruptly found themselves surrounded by genin with raised hackles and hot eyes.

Yes, there was strength to be found in the forests of Hi no Kuni.

A star flashed bright blue high in the heavens, and Teruyoshi absently allowed his mind to wander to golden hair and impossibly blue eyes. The kunoichi. Narumi.

The first time they'd encountered her, she'd been one of those bristling genin demanding Kankuro release the academy student he was tormenting. His lips quirked up at the memory of her flashing eyes, and the fist she'd sunk into his brothers chest.

Unlike most Kunoichi she wasn't afraid to get her hands dirty, or initiate a fight. Teruyoshi had never seen a girl like that before. Most of the female shinobi he knew in sand were support oriented.

She also had a feisty temper, and a somewhat sassy personality. It was exciting to rile her up and tease her. And it wasn't like she was all bark either. He'd seen her back her words up with her actions, and he respected her for it.

Maybe that was the problem. He genuinely liked the girl. Her loyalty to her comrades was something he could relate to, and her determination and spirit were hard to ignore. Heck, he even found her refusal to show weakness to him as a foreign shinobi likable. It was how he would react himself.

Clenching his eyes shut against the pale moonlight, Teruyoshi scowled, fisting his hand in the sheet covering him. That girl was the reason he couldn't sleep at the moment. She was the obstacle he was desperately striving to overcome.

A few days after the preliminary matches, Baki-sensei had gone out one night, and not returned until nearly morning. The next evening, he'd gathered the three brothers together, and informed them of a plan being put into motion by their village.

They were breaking the pact with Konoha and invading during the exams. That was the reason the three of them were here. Not to become chuunin, or to familiarize themselves with their allies. To start a war.

Teruyoshi had felt as if someone had thrown a window open, and let in a blast of the freezing dry air of the desert night. Cold had washed over him, settling into his bones.

Of course, he was ready and willing to carry out his orders. He loved his village, and his people, and if he needed to invade another village to ensure their safety, then so be it. And while he wasn't particularly thrilled that the village had finally decided to wield Gaara as the 'weapon' they insisted he was, he was resigned to it. None of that was the problem.

The problem was that he hadn't been warned. He hadn't known to keep a distance from this place and the people in it. And now, he found himself dreading the attack he would be participating in tomorrow. Because he did not want to kill that golden haired girl, with her bright grin and her ready fists.

He hadn't spoken of this to Baki-sensei, or either of his brothers, for obvious reasons. But it kept him up late into the night, staring unseeingly at his surroundings as he willed himself to sleep.

He knew he would do what he had to do. If it came down to it, he could kill her. He probably would. But he was also grimly aware that it would be one of the kills he'd carry with him, even if he didn't really know her all that well.

He could still remember his first kill. He'd thought until that point that he'd become immune to the horror of watching another person lose their life. What with the assassins that their father was constantly sending after Gaara, he saw death often enough.

But at that moment, when he'd felt his sword sink into a mans torso, and felt the jar of impact resonating up his arm, he'd realized he was wrong.

He could still remember it. Still picture the widening of the mans eyes, the fear in his gaze as he looked at his killer. Blood bubbling oddly around the blade protruding from his victim, and the sound of the man choking out a rattling breath before he went boneless and limp, sliding heavily from the sword.

Teruyoshi had had nightmares for weeks afterwards, and when he'd finally admitted such to Baki-sensei, he'd been told that he'd likely carry the mans death with him for the rest of his life. War and death were their way of life, but shinobi were still human. Such regret was unavoidable.

Teruyoshi had killed a few others since then, and none had haunted him like the first. If he had to kill the girl tomorrow, she'd be the first he'd kill that he'd known personally. And she'd be the second ghost to haunt him.

Shuddering, he sucked in a deep breath, and stilled himself.

'_You don't know that. You don't know you'll have to kill her. It could be someone else. Heck, she might even survive. It's not like we'll be wiping them out.'_

Snorting, the blonde forced his body to relax. He just had to take this one piece at a time. Worrying about what might or might not happen would only wear him out further.

Despite his own thoughts and insistent commands, despite his determination, he dreamed of dying kunoichi with golden hair that night.

* * *

><p>Teruyoshi kept his stance relaxed and loose as he stood beside Gaara. Now that he was aware of just what would be happening within a few hours, the stadium felt threatening and dangerous.<p>

Tall cement walls encircled them, and the stands atop those walls were mostly filled with shinobi of Konoha, now the enemy. Not just chuunin and jounin, either. Anbu guards would be watching, and the third Hokage himself was present.

Teruyoshi blinked languidly, and resisted the urge to move protectively closer to his red-headed baby brother. Kankuro and Baki-sensei were standing on the low balcony set into the walls surrounding the stadium, just above head height.

Back-up was here if he needed it. He and Gaara would make it through this. Glancing at the shorter boy quietly, he winced inwardly as he was reminded just what his little brother was going to have to do when the attack started.

His tense thoughts were broken by a cheerful, musical voice, and he turned to look over his shoulder. His stomach dropped, and again he had to fight his desire to tense up or flinch away.

There she was, bright and excited in her orange clothing, golden braid swaying as she bounced beside a dark-haired kunoichi of Konoha. She was chattering away to her companion, blue eyes flashing over the stands around them, nervous excitement in every line of her body.

Teruyoshi looked away, his throat closing up as one of the bloodier images from his dreams last night flashed through his mind. With great discipline, he shoved those feelings away, sweeping his eyes across the other five people standing just behind the proctor.

The girls broody teammate, Uchiha, was not present. Absently he wondered where the guy was. Apparently he wasn't the only one, because from the sound of it, the girl was questioning her companion.

The new proctor frowned slightly at the two girls, rolling a senbon between his teeth as he chided them.

"Nara, Uzumaki! Stop chattering and stand up straight. Show your faces to the crowd."

Both girls straightened slightly, and Teruyoshi heard a slight intake of breath from one of them as they took in the wildly cheering crowd. Teruyoshi himself had tuned them out, telling himself that it didn't matter to him that they'd soon be screaming for very different reasons.

Beside him, Gaara suddenly became rigid, glaring ferociously up at the Kage box. Teruyoshi glanced at his little brother, and then followed his blazing glare. Ah. Their father was just walking up to take his seat beside the Hokage.

Under the pretense of shifting his weight, Teruyoshi allowed himself to move a bit closer to his little brother. The blonde respected his father as Kazekage, but when it came down to it, he would always take Gaara's side.

Many in their village didn't understand his behavior, and had warned him to stay away from his homicidal sibling. Teruyoshi snorted. If anything, he blamed his father and his damned assassins for what had become of Gaara. If his baby brother was upset to see the man, that was perfectly justified and natural in Teruyoshi's book.

He couldn't contemplate the man who'd sired him for long though. After a few moments of conversation, the Hokage stood and moved to the railing, his voice booming across arena, his age not detracting from the strength and steadiness of his tone.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for coming to Konohagakure's Chuunin Selection Exam today. We will now begin the main matches with the eight shinobi who have passed the preliminaries. Please enjoy the matches."

Glancing down the line at the Konoha genin lined up on the opposite side of him from Gaara, Teruyoshi took in a deep breath, and then shifted his eyes forward. He could do this. He could.

The proctor in front of them turned to face the genin, his eyes almost bored as he surveyed the seven shinobi present.

"There are some things I need to tell you before the matches."

Reaching into one of the pockets of his vest, he pulled out a folded sheet of paper, and opened it up, flashing it at them.

"Look at this."

Teruyoshi narrowed his eyes and leaned forward, for the moment devoting all his attention to making it through the exam. Wether it was relevant or not was not important, he just had to get through that. He would deal with everything else afterwards.

"There was a little change to the tournament match-ups. Check to see who your opponent will be."

Scanning the page, Teruyoshi relaxed inwardly. He was first up, fighting the Yamanka. That was good. He didn't want anymore build-up of tension than he already had to deal with. He'd prefer to go first.

Down the line, on his right, the Uzumaki girl raised her hand uncertainly.

"Ano.."

The proctor was folding up and putting away the paper, dull brown eyes resting lazily on the anxious kunoichi.

"What is it?"

She shifted again, looking slightly worried as she pushed on.

"Sasuke-teme isn't here yet. What do we do?"

Teruyoshi shifted slightly, curious as well. The Uchiha was supposed to be Gaara's opponent. The proctor shrugged, the movement careless.

"If he isn't here by the time his match starts, he'll lose by default."

Gaara shifted, and the blonde glanced down. A strange smile was pulling at his little brothers mouth, and Teruyoshi stared down at him from the corner of his eye. Could Gaara already have gotten rid of his oppponent? He wasn't sure how he felt about that.

The proctor noticed nothing, continuing to address the genin before him calmly.

"Listen up. The terrain and the audience are different, but the rules are the same as the prelims. There are no rules. The match ends when someone dies or gives up. However, as proctor, I may stop a match at any point. Got it?"

The genin nodded sharply, and answered as one.

"Right."

The proctor nodded back to them, and then rocked back on his heels, sliding his hands into his pockets as he eyed them.

"Alright then. The first match is Teruyoshi of Sunagakure versus Inori Yamanaka. The rest of you, move back to the waiting area."

Teruyoshi glanced at his brother. Gaara didn't look at him, merely turning to follow the other Konoha genin through an opening in the wall below the balcony where Baki-sensei stood, and up a staircase.

Then the Suna-nin's eyes went to his opponent. The platinum blonde was standing with most of his weight on one foot, his arms crossed cockily across his chest as he grinned at Teruyoshi. The older boys eyes narrowed.

This would be where the war started for him. Whether the other boy knew it or not, they were enemies, and as such Teruyoshi would give no quarter.

When the two young shinobi turned to face each other, a hush fell over the stadium, cheers dying away into a breathless silence. This was a shinobi village after all, and even the civilians knew when to keep their mouths shut.

The proctor shifted his wooden senbon between his teeth, cutting his eyes back and forth between Teruyoshi and the Yamanaka boy. Then he stepped slightly back, and called out in an alert voice.

"Begin!"

Teruyoshi's eyes narrowed, and he shot to the side, circling in towards the other boy, careful not to give him a direct line of attack. The last thing he intended to do was allow the Konoha-nin to use his mind jutsu on him.

Startled at the burst of speed, the Yamanaka whirled around, trying to keep his eyes on his grim faced opponent. Teruyoshi snorted as he closed the last bit of distance between them. The mind-walker hadn't a chance.

Drawing back his arm, Teruyoshi slammed his fist forward, smashing it hard into the side of the Yamanaka's face, and throwing the other boy to the side. As the stunned genin stumbled away, desperately trying to maintain his balance, Teruyoshi smirked, blowing softly on his knuckles.

The trick to this fight would be to not reveal to much of his abilities. After all, it would be bad if Konoha knew how to counter him in the upcoming battle. But that was easily taken care of. He'd just have to goad the Konoha-nin into a close combat, taijutsu battle.

Eyeing the stunned boy, and the blood dribbling down his chin from a split lip, Teruyoshi allowed his smirk to widen.

"What's the matter, pretty boy? Wanna give up?"

The Yamanka's brows snapped together, and he glared ferociously at Teruyoshi, wiping the blood from his chin with a thumb, and flinging it to the side as he straightened.

"Not at all. I was just thinking how glad I was that I got the poacher as my opponent."

The Yamanka whipped his hands up, and began running through seals as quickly as he could manage. Teruyoshi's eyes narrowed. From what he'd seen, the younger genin focused mostly on genjutsu. He couldn't be allowed to cast one now.

Darting forward, Teruyoshi swung at the other boy in a vicious left hook. WIth a startled yelp, the lighter blonde swayed back, breaking off halfway through his seals to bring his hands up in block.

Pulling back, Teruyoshi twisted, his body still engaged in a weaving motion to render the mind jutsu useless. As he turned, he slammed a back-fist hard into Inori's momentarily unguarded ribs.

When the strike connected, the Konoha-nin recoiled, springing away from Teruyoshi, and putting a good ten meters of distance between them. Breathing hard, he winced, eyes fixed on Teruyoshi as he settled into a basic taijutsu stance.

Teruyoshi snorted, cocking his head back arrogantly as he smirked at his opponent.

"What, are you only good for running away?"

Inori scowled at him, growling irately as he tensed.

"You're one to talk. A guy like you who goes around bothering girls from another village."

WIth that retort, the younger blonde shot towards him, baby blue eyes glowing with anger. Teruyoshi felt a tight satisfaction bloom in his chest as he caught the blow with his left arm, whipping in for another punch as he did.

Good. This was good. If he could just keep the other boy angry, keep him engaged in the physical attacks of taijutsu, he'd win this battle, and win it easily.

As the two of them continued to exchange blows, whirling around each other as they did, Teruyoshi ducked a punch from from the other boy. The Yamanaka lost his balance, and his momentum pulled him through, sending his fist straight into the ground.

Teruyoshi blinked in surprise at the resounding crack that rang through the air, and the cloud of dust that momentarily obscured his enemy's arm. When it settled, he saw Inori pull his hand slowly from where it had buried itself in the hard-packed earth of the stadium floor.

His eyebrows rose. The Konoha-nin wasn't half bad at close combat. But he wasn't good enough. Teruyoshi had the advantage. Not only was his experience greater, but he specialized in physical combat aided by fuuton techniques. The Yamanaka specialized in the area of the mind.

Quickly, while the other boys back was turned, he flashed through several hand seals, creating a suna bunshin, and then vanished in a quick swirl of sand. Reappearing behind a tree, he took a deep breath, and then flashed through another series of seals, tuning out the sounds of his enemy engaging the clone.

Drawing in a deep breath, he focused on the feeling of the Yamanaka's chakra signature. Chakra surged through him, and he slid easily down into the earth, as if it were water. Once he was below the surface, he twisted, eyes still closed, and burrowed in the direction of the Konoha-nin.

There was more resistance in the rich, solid soil of Hi no Kuni than he was used to. He usually used this technique out in the shifting sands of the desert. Still, it wasn't as bad as the rock hard, baked earth to be found in the village, and he slid through it smoothly and quickly.

Once he was right below the Yamanaka, he waited for the instant when the other boy froze in shock as his suna bunshin collapsed in a spray of sand. Then he thrust his hand up through the surface, catching the younger genins ankle in an iron grip.

"Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu."

The jutsu took over, and Teruyoshi shot up from the earth, even as Inori was dragged down. As they passed each other, Teruyoshi narrowed his eyes, and slammed his knee hard into the Konoha-nin's chin.

The Yamanaka's head whipped backwards with a resounding crack of bone on bone, blood flying from his mouth where he'd likely bitten either his cheek or his tongue. Platinum blonde hair floated back in a wild spray even as baby blue eyes widened, and then slid closed.

In the next instant, Teruyoshi was standing impassively over Inori Yamanaka's unconscious and mostly buried figure. The proctor stepped in, voice sharp as his brown eyes locked on the victorious blonde.

"That's enough. Winner, Teruyoshi of Sunagakure."

Teruyoshi slowly turned his head to meet the mans gaze as the cheering began around the stadium. After a long moment, he inclined his head stiffly, and then wheeled to stalk towards the staircase leading to the examinees balcony.

Behind him, two iryo-nin had rushed out onto the field, and were examining his victims skull, neck, and spine as best they could before attempting to remove him. The suna-nin snorted as he mounted the stairs to join his brother.

He knew he hadn't killed or even seriously injured the Yamanaka. Narrowing his eyes, he tried to convince himself that the only reason he hadn't was because he didn't want to arouse the suspicion of the scores of watching Konoha-nin.

Before he could really dwell on it too much, he emerged onto the balcony. The Konoha genin glanced at him before looking back to the stadium. They weren't friendly, but they weren't hostile either.

The girl, Narumi, was the only one who was different. Her eyes lingered on him for a moment, a slight frown hovering on her face, before she turned back. Gaara was standing beside her.

Clearing his throat slightly, Teruyoshi walked up to stand on his brothers other side, deliberately forcing his eyes not to wander to the golden haired girl beside his baby brother. When he spoke, his voice was light and relaxed, as usual.

"So, any sign of the Uchiha?"

Gaara's pale turquoise slid to him, and he shook his head once. Teruyoshi shrugged, crossing his arms atop the railing, and leaning forward nonchalantly. Soon. Soon now. He just had to control his reactions for a bit longer, and then he could lose himself in battle.

Gaara shifted a bit, and Teruyoshi glanced back at him. The redhead's eyes were wide, and flickered from side to side, his breath coming quickly. Teruyoshi tightened his jaw, and prepared to act. His brother was starting to leak sakki, probably agitated by his opponents absence.

Gaara lifted his hand slowly, eyes fixed on a random chuunin in the stands across from them. Teruyoshi swore inwardly. Gaara always did get antsy when he had been too long without a kill.

Before Teruyoshi could move to stop him, a slender tanned hand caught his wrist tightly. The sakki vanished, and both brothers turned their eyes towards the orange clad Kunoichi who was eyeing Gaara. When she spoke her voice was calm.

"He'll be here. Don't you worry."

Teruyoshi's brows shot up.

Down below, the proctor cleared his throat and called out the next two names.

"Well then. If Tenma and Narumi Uzumaki will step forward, we will begin the second match."

The two Konoha-nin both tensed slightly.

The girl, Narumi, released Gaara, her attention redirected. With an excited whoop she launched herself enthusiastically over the railing, landing lightly in the arena before dashing over to take her place in front of the proctor.

Tenma, a brown haired boy in a long tunic, followed her at a more sedate pace. While he was not as openly excited as his female counterpart, the set of his shoulders and the gleam in his eyes spoke of determination and readiness.

With an effort, Teruyoshi turned his eyes to the boy as he took his place across from the girl. This was the same guy who had so decisively beaten Kankuro in the preliminary matches. He was the reason that his brown haired brother was sitting with their sensei in the stands, rather than standing beside him.

Interesting. All the better for the stronger shinobi to wear themselves out now, and then be exhausted during the attack. Particularly weapons masters suited to dealing with larger groups of opponents at once.

Beside him, Gaara kept pale eyes locked on the kunoichi, head tilted slightly to one side, gaze impassive. Teruyoshi felt a shiver run down his spine, and turned his eyes back to the match. He'd never seen such a look on Gaara's face before.

Cheers rose excitedly as the proctor proclaimed the start of the match. Predictably, it was Narumi who attacked first, dashing in recklessly toward her opponent. Tenma swayed easily backward, and she followed him with a grin.

Tenma narrowed his eyes, dodging her blows, and delivering a few of his own. As Teruyoshi watched the swift exchange of blows, he narrowed his eyes, seeing what was going on.

Every time Tenma went for his scrolls or holster, every time he tried to arm himself, Narumi would attack with increased vigor, forcing him to turn his attention back to the matter of defending himself.

Tenma seemed to have realized her strategy as well, because he suddenly vaulted away from her, launching into a series of back handsprings that took him away from the reach of the kunoichi's fists and feet.

Landing at a safe distance, he reached for his scrolls again. With a shout, Narumi launched a series of shuriken at him. An admirable effort, but a vain one. Tenma ducked the razor edged weapons, opening his scroll with a hard flick of his wrist.

Brushing his fingers over a thick black symbol, the brown haired boy smirked as a handheld sickle popped into his hand. Narumi scowled at him, and charged, lifting her hands into a strange cross-shaped hand-seal.

With a soft explosion, twelve golden haired figures were charging across the stadium to engage the weapons master. Tenma blinked, and Teruyoshi watched intently as he did his best to fend off the figures surrounding him, calling up new weapons now and again as the old ones were snatched away from his fingers.

Every time the younger boy would disperse one clone, another would take it's place. Narumi seemed to be trying to wear him down with numbers now that her plan to keep him from drawing on his weapons had failed.

As the battle continued, Teruyoshi nodded decisively to himself. Yes, definitely better that the weapons master be worn out when everything broke loose. As a matter of fact, probably better if both the genin down there were as depleted as possible.

While a shinobi who could take out multiple opponents with relative ease was a very real threat, so was a kunoichi who was quite literally, an army unto herself. And apparently had no concept of the word fear.

Frowning, the suna-nin leaned forward, trying to get a better look at what was going on. Every once in a while, one of the blonde clones would rush in and slide by Tenma in a decidedly odd movement, without even attempting an attack.

He would have said that it was a distraction, as every time it happened, Tenma would whirl to face the already retreating clone, and immediately be attacked by one of the figures behind him. But something about it bothered him.

One of the other Konoha-nin on the balcony, a bushy-haired kunoichi in a hooded coat, murmured quietly to her companion, dark glasses fixed on the scene below them.

"Very logical. Driving Tenma-kun into the trees so that his range will be decreased is a most cunning strategic maneuver. I don't believe he's even noticed."

The other kunoichi murmured a lazy agreement, though her eyes were sharp and intent as she watched the struggling press of figures embroiled in battle. Teruyoshi blinked, glancing from the two dark haired girls to the fight taking place below them.

Sure enough, the cluster of orange-clad figures encircling the furiously fighting weapons master was slowly drawing him towards the groups of trees growing near the stadium walls.

She nearly had him there when the boy looked up, caught sight of the approaching foliage, and realized what was going on. From the expression on his face and the movement of his mouth, Teruyoshi would have been willing to bet that he'd cursed quite emphatically.

Summoning up a sickle and chain combination weapon, he whirled the chain in his hand, and swept it through the ranks of clones surrounding him. The remaining clones fell back, all grimly lifting their hands to summon more, probably to disguise the movement of the original.

As more clones exploded into being, Tenma crouched, placing two scrolls tied closed with red, tasseled cords on the ground in front of him, bracing them upright with his palms resting lightly on the tops.

With a quick smirk, he called out a technique name as smoke exploded around him.

"Soshoryu!"

Teruyoshi watched, impressed and surprised, as two dragons of smoke rose from the cloud obscuring the combatants, and flew up into the air, twisting around each other. As Narumi and her clones burst out of the smoke, surrounding it warily, the dragons vanished, leaving behind the two scrolls, unwound and trailing around each other up through the air.

Teruyoshi eyed them, speculating on how much chakra it cost the weapons master to hold the scrolls up in the air. The genin in question shot into the air, flying up between the two scrolls.

With his body spinning wildly, his hands brushed over the symbols as he passed, snatching weapons as they appeared. Teruyoshi watched, wide-eyed, as the boys body blurred with the speed of his spin, and flashes of steel rained down on the crowd of Kunoichi below him.

Drawing in a hissing breath, Teruyoshi spared a moment to be thankful that the weapons master had been pushed into revealing this technique. It would have been devastating on the ranks of the suna-nin if he'd sprung it on them as a surprise.

As it was, Teruyoshi was confident that he could nullify the threat with his wind techniques. He only needed to keep an eye out for the boy.

While he was distracting himself with such thoughts, the majority of the kunoichi's clones were dispersed. Those few that were left though, were enduring the deadly hail of weapons well.

Teruyoshi blinked in surprise as he watched. The multiple figures of the Konoha kunoichi were moving in tight, circular motions, dipping and swaying, weaving between the falling blades around them. Occasionally one would be nicked or struck, and disperse, but overall they seemed to holding up well.

When the weapons master landed, and the onslaught of blades came to an end, four figures were still standing. Quickly, those four multiplied again, until he was surrounded by around twenty figures.

Narrowing his eyes, the chinese boy growled and leapt back into the air.

"I'm not done yet!"

The way he moved his hands as he sailed through the air reminded Teruyoshi vividly of Kankuro practicing his more advanced puppetry techniques. His eyebrows shot up as the weapons on the ground rose into the air, leased to their masters hands by long strands of ninja wire.

With a sweep of his arms, the weapons master sent the deadly objects hurtling towards the blonde figures. Identical grins spread across the faces of the kunoichi, and they all spun back into those strange, effortlessly circular motions, dodging among the weapons.

As the weapons hurtled by, each clone spun and grabbed double handfuls of the wires, planting their feet and moving back. The weapons master yelped as he was yanked toward the ground, crashing into it, the tension of the wires held his arms outstretched from his sides.

Frowning, the boy moved as if to disengage the wires, but the Narumi clones darted in, flinging loops of the excess lengths of wire around his torso, and backing up quickly, pinning his arms to his sides and holding him in place.

Teruyoshi smirked at the fierce quality of the grins on the kunoichi's face. She had the guy well and truly pinned. If she was lucky, this could mean victory. A very well played strategy on her part.

Gritting his teeth, the brown haired Konoha-nin wiggled his fingers towards his holster, and groped as best he could for a scroll. Then his eyes widened, and his head whipped around to stare down at the holster as if he'd never seen it before.

From among the crowd, one particular kunoichi stepped forward, drawing her opponents eyes, and Teruyoshi instinctively knew her to be the original. A hush fell over the stadium as she grinned broadly, and reached into the folds of her jacket.

With a flourish, she withdrew four very familiar scrolls, two held in each hand. Teruyoshi resisted the urge to laugh as she waved them cheerfully at the boy. The weapons master stiffened, and then relaxed with a sigh, a rueful smile on his face.

"Examiner! I'm done. Haven't got the chakra or the armament to continue."

The proctor blinked, and then a smile tugged at his lips, the senbon shifting to the corner of his mouth.

"Winner, Uzumaki Narumi."

The stadium erupted into cheers as the clones dispersed. The girl grinned sheepishly walking over to help disentangle the boy from his own wire, and handing him back his weapons scrolls.

The two Konoha genin stood talking quietly to one another in the arena as the crowd cheered wildly above them. Then they nodded to the examiner and started back across the arena, a couple of chuunin already gathering up and removing weapons behind them.

Teruyoshi looked around contemplatively, wondering where the Uchiha was. It was vital to the plan that he and Gaara fight as planned. What were they supposed to do if the broody genin didn't show?

Teruyoshi was just opening his mouth to say something to Gaara when the Uchiha appeared in a swirl of leaves, his jounin-sensei beside him. Teruyoshi tensed slightly, eyes intent on the dark figure of the younger genin.

The previous two combatants altered course, Narumi bouncing up excitedly to chatter at her teammate as their jounin-sensei spoke quietly to the proctor. The weapons master followed her over, nodding slightly to the Uchiha.

After a moment or two, the brown haired boy took Narumi's arm and tugged her towards the stairwell. Stumbling slightly, she waved energetically to her teammate, and then raced across the stadium to the steps, closely followed by her former opponent.

Looking up to the balcony, the proctor called out calmly.

"Gaara. Get down here."

The Uchiha looked up towards them as well, a gravely serious gaze locking onto the red head standing beside him. Frowning slightly, Teruyoshi glanced over and opened his mouth to say something to his younger brother.

Then he blinked, and closed his mouth tightly. A maniac grin stretched Gaara's mouth, baring enlarged canines that were nearly fangs. His eyes were wide and bloodshot, and he practically radiated mad desire for battle as he met and held the Uchiha's onyx gaze.

Teruyoshi's jaw tightened, and an uneasy shiver ran down his spine.

'_This is bad. I haven't seen him like this in a while.'_

For a moment he wondered if the younger boy even remembered the attack plan, or if he was simply insane with bloodlust. To draw his attention now would probably end with being crushed inside a prison of sand.

After a moment, the smaller shinobi turned, and headed towards the stairwell. Teruyoshi crossed his arms over his chest, half turning to look back at the slight, retreating figure of the redhead. Tightening his grip on his arms, he spoke up in deliberately non-threatening voice.

"Gaara. Be careful."

The younger genin didn't look back. He stopped moving for a moment, and Teruyoshi wondered distantly if he'd finally pushed the boundaries of what his little brother would tolerate too far, if perhaps he should have just shut up and let him walk off.

But Gaara didn't turn on him, or even threaten to kill him. He merely walked on in silence. Most people would probably feel slighted. Teruyoshi merely sighed in relief that his refusal to cower from his baby brother hadn't driven the kid to kill him yet.

Shaking his head, he turned to face the stadium, practically vibrating with tension. Lifting his shoulders slightly, he forced his body to relax, and focused his attention on the shift in the reassuring weight of his sword across his back. Not long now.

* * *

><p>Gaara stalked down the stairs between the two frozen Konoha genin who had just watched him dispose of the pitiful shinobi who had presented themselves to him for death in the hallway.<p>

Personally, he didn't care about gambling or whatever they'd been rambling about. He didn't even care who they were. All that mattered was that they had been living, and that he had been able to kill them.

It had taken the edge from his hunger, at least for now. He could still hear mothers voice in the back of his head, howling and hissing, chanting for blood to slake their thirst.

As he walked between the two frozen figures on the stares, he glanced at the female. She was watching him as well. She had the feel of a predator. He'd caught bits and pieces of her true nature lurking beneath the surface during the exams, but it wasn't until she'd stopped him in the stands before her fight that he'd _known._

She was like him. He could feel the restrained power boiling beneath her skin, see it in the curl of her lip and the flash of her fangs during her fight. It made his blood stir with the need to validate his own existence.

He shivered as he stepped out into the sunlight, a hungry grin pulling at his face as he stared at the dark figure in the center of the stadium. He liked Konoha. Such nice prey. Predators were so much more vindicating to kill, and there were so many of them here.

He couldn't wait to _tearripcrushKILL_ the Uchiha. To see his blood stain the ground, and know that he had proven his existence once again. That he still had purpose.

Feeling the weight of his fathers stare boring into the side of his head, he twitched, eyes widening slightly, expression never faltering as he moved out to stand opposite the Uchiha.

Maybe, after he was done here, he'd kill the girl next. They'd promised him kills, a battle where he could wallow in blood if he so chose. Why not seek out the most worthy kills first?

Hunching his shoulders slightly, Gaara allowed mothers voice to become white noise in the back of his mind, his crazed grin fading to a dark smirk as he locked eyes with the icy Uchiha.

All around him, he could feel the heavy, clinging fear in the air. It oozed from the stands, mixing with anticipation and flowing over him. He chuckled darkly, reveling in the feel of terror.

Distantly, he heard the dull, fading chuunin beside them call a start to the match before springing away. He couldn't spare any attention for that one. Such a weak kill would bring him no pleasure. The mans blood would run cool and weak, not rich and powerful like that of another predator.

No, all Gaara's attention was locked on his next kill. The dark eyed fledgling before him, crouching into a combat stance as he prepared for battle. Gaara settled into the flow of battle, eager to see the _bloodlifebreath_ flow out of this dark forest-dwellers body.

Sand rushed up and out of the gourd on his back, flowing into the air above him to hover and swirl with a familiar hiss of grains on grains. Wariness flashed through his kills eyes, and the other male sprang back.

'_That won't save you, oh no! Your life is already mine, fledgling!'_

Mothers voice suddenly surged in his head, deafeningly loud as she roared and snarled, berating him mercilessly. Agony raced through his brain and spread throughout his head as she punished him for the perceived offense.

"**Idiot child! HAVE I NOT TOLD YOU WE MUST HAVE BLOOD? Such FILTH you have given me! Weaklings! STRONG BLOOD! I need powerful kills! WHY DO YOU DEFY ME!"**

Clutching at his head with one hand, Gaara heaved for breath, forcing his way through the blinding pain that accompanied mothers displeasure. He wasn't defying her! He would kill the fledgling! He would tear him to pieces!

When he spoke his voice was strained, and breathless laughter threaded his voice. He knew it unnerved people when he spoke to mother. Particularly his brothers.

"Don't get so mad at me...mother."

He narrowed his eyes, watching the alarmed and confused expression of disbelief that spread across the fledglings face as he soothed mother. He had to appease her, to show her that he was doing as she wished, that he hadn't meant to give her filth.

"Back there...I made you absorb foul blood...sorry...but...but this time!"

The hissing canopy of sand flowing above him grew larger and larger as he poised himself to squeeze the life, the blood, the breath, the very _light_ from the fledgling standing before him. He licked at his lips hungrily and continued.

"This time...it'll taste better!"

Oh yes, it would taste better from now on! Hadn't he been promised? The opportunity to slake his thirst with the entire village of Konohagakure! They bred strength here, and he would drink long and deep from that strength!

He'd hunt down only the finest kills, spilling hot, powerful blood in rivers to satisfy mothers desire! And it would all begin with the fledgling!

Mother sensed his thoughts, his intentions, and subsided, momentarily appeased by the promise of things to come. She receded ed with a final stab of agony that caused him to loose control of his sand for a moment, sending it crashing to the ground as he recovered from her immediate presence.

Shifting his attention back to the fledgling, he sucked in a shuddering breath, and tensed, ready for the slaughter.

"Come!"

The fledgling stared at him with a wary gaze as his sand lifted into the air around him again, hissing and rushing as it swirled around him. After a moment, dark eyes narrowed, and he murmured in a low voice.

"Let's go!"

With a swift motion, he sent two shuriken hurtling across the space between them. Gaara deliberately stilled his face, and crossed his arms over his chest. His sand rose up between them, forming into a rough suna bunshin as it caught the projectile weapons.

The fledgling charged him, and Gaara watched eagerly as his sand blasted towards him, lashing out offensively with only a slight nudge from his chakra. Black eyes widened, and the Uchiha leapt high into the air above him, avoiding the sand.

The bunshin still standing in front of Gaara threw one of the two shuriken it had caught towards the descending genin, and the Uchiha matched it with another, both weapons colliding and spinning off to the side midway between the two of them.

Twisting around in the air as he neared the ground, the Uchiha slammed his leg through the blocking arms of the bunshin, sending sand spraying as his kick powered through the substance of the clone.

Landing on his hands, he spun around, leaping up to his feet and slamming a rough backhand into the bunshin, his arm a bar of muscle and bone that would have crushed the opponents trachea if it had been another flesh and blood shinobi he struck.

Instead, the sand of the bunshin bled over the dark genins arm and wrist, holding it in place. Gritting his teeth and glaring, the Uchiha pivoted, and slammed a powerful, chakra-enhanced palm heel strike through the bunshins head, blowing it apart and dispersing the sand.

Gaara saw the opponent clearly, saw the Uchiha surge across the small space separating them with his fist drawn back. And remained still, calm in the knowledge that his sand would protect him until the time came when he caught his prey.

Sure enough, sand surged up in a shield between them. And then the Uchiha smirked at him, and vanished. Gaara started, eyes widening as he stared blankly at the spot where his target had been.

With incredible speed, Gaara felt the presence of the other genin reappear behind him and started to turn, eyes wide. Konoha-nin seemed to make a habit of surprising him. First the ridiculous green one, and the girl. Now the Uchiha.

'_He's fast! He moves the same way as...as the green one!'_

Before he or his sand could guard against the strike, the Uchiha's fist slammed into his cheek. Gaara's head snapped back, and he sailed through the air, distantly aware that his sand armor was cracking where he'd been struck.

His sand raced after him as he flew through the air, and coiled around his spinning body, softening the impact as he slammed into the ground. When he came to a stop, he sat up and glared at the Uchiha, enraged by the cocky smirk he found on the fledglings face.

"That must be the armor of sand."

Gaara's glare intensified as the Uchiha lifted his hand palm up, and twitched his fingers arrogantly in his direction, head tilting slight to the side as he spoke in an amused, confident tone.

"Come."

Narrowing his eyes, Gaara silently refused the command, irritation spiking. Who was this upstart, to think he had the right to call Gaara to fight, as if he were a foolish child, or a dog?

The Uchiha's eyes narrowed, and his mouth drew into a tight line.

"If you're not coming to me, then I'll come to you!"

With a flash of black cloth, the other genin surged across the ground between them. Eyes widening slightly, Gaara shifted back, calling on his sand. He was wary now. Wary of the other boys speed and strength.

When the Uchiha reached him, sand surged up between them. But no impact came. The dark genin slid around Gaara, and surged to attack from behind. Gaara looked over his shoulder with wide eyes as his sand surged between them and lashed out.

The Uchiha wove back and forth, dodging the lashing columns of sand, and twisting in beneath the flowing trails that curled protectively around his body. Gaara's eyes widened as a pale foot slammed into his chest, hard enough to crack his armor again, and throwing him backwards.

Once again his sand caught him, and he heard a mocking voice ring out from the Konoha-nin as a dust cloud rose around his body.

"What's wrong? Is this all you've got?"

Standing, Gaara kept his eyes closed as the dust settled, itching with battle thirst as the voice rang out again, confident and proud.

"I'll tear down that armor of yours!"

Uchiha surged forward, and Gaara lifted his sand defensively. But no attack came immediately. Instead, the other boy sped around him, his body blurring as he raced in circles around the defensive ring of sand surrounding the redhead.

Gaara's eyes flicked from side to side as he tried in confusion to track the other genin's movements. But he couldn't follow them. Instead he felt only more and more bewildered as the black and tan blur whipping around and around him.

Then the Uchiha was spring acrobatically under his sand and towards him. Setting his teeth and frowning slightly, Gaara leaned back. But he didn't move far enough, and the Konoha-nin's foot caught his chin, snapping his head up and back.

Hands seized his long white sash, and the strap of his gourd where they crossed across his chest, yanking him sharply forward. As his body stumbled heavily forward, a knee slammed into his gut, forcing the breath from his body.

Before Gaara could retaliate, his opponent sprang back and away, putting distance between them again as the two of them heaved for breath and stared at each other. The red-headed Jinchuuriki felt the caustic stare of his sire on the back of his neck, and gritted his teeth angrily.

He would not allow this to continue! Rising to his feet and fixing the darker genin with an intense glare, he brought his hands together in a seal. As he did, the sand around him rose and encased him in a thick sphere like the shell of an egg.

He felt the Uchiha race towards him. Felt the punch that slammed into the shell, it's force absorbed by the thick barrier of sand that protected him. Something in the air changed, and he shivered. The Uchiha was bleeding now. Mother could feel it.

Deep within the unnatural pitch darkness created by the thick sand shell he'd enclosed himself in, a maniac grin slowly twisted his lips upwards. Slowly, a picture materialized before him as he employed his sand eye.

The Uchiha stood before his absolute defense...and smiled? Why would he smile? Was he a fool?

Muttering to himself under his breath, Gaara ignored the Uchiha's attempts to break through his sand, and the bloody red eyes that peered out from behind his ebony bangs.

"Yeah...I'm going to tear him apart. Then drag it out."

Mother murmured in the back of his head, and almost dazedly, he answered her.

"What you ask? The insides of course. A lot comes out, right?"

Giggling at the rush of dark pleasure and anticipation mother sent rushing through his veins, he continued, voice giddy.

"I'll give them all to you."

Deep within his mind, a rumbling, purring growl sounded, and a deep voice boomed.

"**That's a good child. Good boy."**

Giggling again, Gaara responded almost absentmindedly.

"I'm always a good boy. Yes. Yes, I'll do that! Mother, I'll watch."

Suddenly, Gaara became aware of the Uchiha shooting towards him, his arm lit up with forking tongues of blue-white lightening. His sand surged to stop him, but the other genin ignored it, swerving around it and sinking his arm deep into the incredibly hard shell of the sand.

Pain exploded from Gaara's chest, and he looked down in shock. A tiny amount of light seeped through along with the Uchiha's arm. Enough to see. The other genin's palm was flat against his shoulder, and it was the source of the glacial, burning sensation racing through his veins.

"M-mother...what...?"

He stared down, eyes wide as blood dripped from his shoulder onto his outstretched hand. Horror and shock flooded through him, and he threw back his head, screaming.

"Blood! My blood!"

His body transformed, taking on mothers shape. Reaching up, he wrapped one blue-veined, clawed hand around the limb that had injured him. He was barely aware of Uchiha's struggling until lightning once again encased his arm.

Pain shot through Gaara's body, and his grip weakened somewhat. Slowly, Uchiha struggled backward, dragging himself free of Gaara's grasp and shooting out of his reach, even as his own hand shot forward, arm lengthening as he grasped after his kill.

Slowly, he drew his arm back within his shield, feeling it deform and shift to fit back through the hole that was no bigger than the circumference of Uchiha's own arm. Shifting around, he brought his eye to the hole and peered out at Uchiha's sweating, horror struck form.

Infuriated, he roared. Roared with all his strength, sending a blast wave of air out from his shield, causing the black hair of his opponent, his prey, to flutter. Red sharingan eyes stared back at him, locked onto what was visible through the hole with frozen shock.

Slowly, cracks spread through his sand shield, spiderwebbing across its surface. Resuming his human form with effort, Gaara allowed the sand to collapse, spilling over him as he clutched at his wounded shoulder, chest heaving for breath.

Rage gushed through him, and his eyes focused on the Uchiha, everything else tunneling down until all he could see was the dark genin, and all he could feel was his own desire to _slashdestroyrend _him.

An explosion suddenly erupted near the Kage box, and Gaara was vaguely aware of the sounds of battle commencing, and the sudden absence of cheering, or any other sound associated with large crowds of people.

A broad-chested figure with an anxious scent suddenly landed between him and the Uchiha, arms outstretched placatingly towards him.

"Stop it, Gaara! Now is not the time!"

Ignoring his brothers words, he started forward, intent on the presence of the Uchiha. Kankuro landed beside and slightly behind Teruyoshi, fear heavy in his scent even as he blocked Gaara's way.

"There's no point in fighting one genin! We have to carry out the mission!"

Narrowing his eyes, Gaara hissed in displeasure, trying to weave around his errant siblings. It would probably have been quicker to kill them, but for some reason the thought didn't cross his mind.

Before he could properly evade the older boys, Baki landed between them and the Uchiha, glaring over his shoulder sharply. Even the mans aura was tightly controlled.

"What are you three doing? The mission has already commenced!"

Mother's presence suddenly surged in his head, her voice so loud that he couldn't make out the words. Pain and pressure erupted in his skull, and he cried out, twisting his fingers anxiously through the short red strands of his hair.

Desperately he resisted the urge to write on the ground as the echoing, snarling roar continued on and on. Teruyoshi's presence edged closer to him, concern lacing through his aura. But he didn't touch him.

Somewhere in front of him, he heard the Uchiha's voice, but the pain in his head was still growing, and he couldn't make out the words. Beneath him, his trembling legs gave out, and he went to his knees.

Teruyoshi knelt beside him, a warm hand coming to rest tentatively atop his own twisting fingers. It hurt! It hurt so badly! Mother was upset, angry. What had he done? He'd do anything to make it stop, truly. He'd be a good boy!

"The wound must have been more serious than I thought. You've used up most of your chakra, haven't you little brother?"

Without waiting for a reply, the older genin raised his voice and addressed Baki.

"He can't use it. Not now."

Baki's voice was harsh and scornful, and Gaara could feel his sharp eyes drilling into him.

"Fool! That's what happens when you try to take on the complete possessed form ahead of time! You should have waited for the signal!"

Kankuro's alarmed, aggressive voice rang out as he whirled around to face their sensei.

"What now? You want us to do this without Gaara?"

Teruyoshi tensed, and his hand fell away as he stood up to face the other two. Bitterly, Gaara snarled at the reminder that kind facades always fell away the moment he ceased to be of use and became a danger. Always.

Baki hesitated, and then he continued in a calm, smooth voice.

"Gaara is Sunagakure's trump card. We will have him fight, no matter what."

Somewhere across the arena, the young suna-nin heard the proctor sternly order the Uchiha to stands, to fight the other Suna-nin flashing over the unnaturally still crowd as a shinobi of Konohagakure. The Uchiha grunted acknowledgment, and sprang away.

As the scent of his blood became more distant, Gaara shuddered. His kill was escaping. Leaving. He'd lost his chance to slake mothers thirst. She'd punish him for that. The shivering became more pronounced.

Baki addressed his brothers strictly, apparently ignoring the proctor and retreating genin in the stadium with them.

"You three retreat for now. Treat Gaara's wound, and once his chakra recovers, resume the mission. These are your orders."

The other two acknowledged the orders, and Teruyoshi's hand wrapped around his wrist, dragging his arm over his shoulders. Still shuddering, even though the pain was slowly beginning to quiet, Gaara allowed his larger brother to support his weight as he was pulled to his feet.

'_Can't leave the weapon to rust, oh no! Have to be polished up now, so I can be used against the enemy, like a good weapon, don't I?'_

Kankuro's voice came from somewhere to his right, but Gaara had already closed his eyes, and didn't bother to open them to spot the black clad genin.

"What about you, sensei?"

Baki's jumpsuit rustled against the stiff fabric of his flak jacket as he turned away from the three of them.

"I'll be taking care of things here."

The proctors calm, laid back voice was no different now than when he'd been calling genin up for matches, and Gaara spared a moment to wonder through the haze of pain if the man was predator or prey.

"You think it'll be that easy?"

Gaara didn't hear Baki's reply, because at that instant, Teruyoshi sprang away, carrying him through the air and over the walls of the stadium. Wind rushed in his ears as they rushed across the hidden village towards the tree line. Soon now. Soon he would kill.

* * *

><p>Narumi looked around, eyes narrowed. The stands were crawling with oto-nin, and there were only a very few Konoha-nin awake to fight them. Kakashi-sensei and Gai-sensei were both already engaging the enemy.<p>

From where she stood in the back of the stands, she could see the slumped over forms of Chouji, Hirohito, and Kira. She could just make out Sasuke and Saburo-kun fighting back to back in the box across the stadium from where she stood.

Tenma had woken her after the swirling feathers of the Genjutsu had sent her to sleep, before whipping out a scroll, and dashing to knock away an Oto-nin heading for his sensei's back.

Drawing a kunai of her own, she dashed to Kakashi-sensei's side. The silver-haired jounin was fighting well, though his tone and expression remained as lazily relaxed as ever.

"Ah, Narumi-chan! Good to see you awake."

She snorted as he ruffled her hair, simultaneously kicking away an approaching Oto-nin hard enough to snap the mans neck.

"Tenma woke me up. What are we gonna do sensei?"

Kakashi looked around, momentarily unmoving as no Oto-nin were currently moving to engage the Konoha jounin.

"Hmmm..."

When he didn't answer her query, Narumi frowned up at her sensei, not sure she liked the way his lone visible eye flickered across the Oto-nin, down into the stadium where a Suna-nin was currently engaging the exam proctor, and then back up to the Kage box.

"Sensei? What is it?"

Kakashi shrugged, moving to engage another Oto-nin as he grunted out an answer.

"It's probably nothing. But that Gaara kid, something about him's bothering me. They were pretty quick to spirit him off just now."

Before he could say more, two Oto-nin launched towards them, and he shoved her protectively back, leaping to meet them with a ferocious glare. Narumi blinked, eyes widening as she looked towards the place where the three brothers had leapt over the wall.

If it was bothering sensei, it was probably big. Especially if it had to do with Gaara. She swallowed hard, hand clenching around her weapon as she remembered his bloodshot eyes, and the way he'd dragged those strange shinobi down the hall and crushed them with his sand.

Then she clenched her jaw and lifted her chin. But he was a Jinchuuriki, like her. She had felt his chakra, and the chakra of his demon. And she had seen his interaction with his team.

It was her duty as a kunoichi of Konoha to protect her village, no matter the personal cost. That meant nullifying the threat to her village, no matter how dangerous or frightening the task was.

But she also had a duty to her fellow Jinchuuriki. As someone who bore the same burden, she couldn't turn her back on him. He frightened her in ways that she'd never been frightened before. She was desperately afraid of him, because she could so easily have been him.

But she couldn't let that cause her to hesitate any longer. Her entire being, all her instincts and training, shouted at her that it was her duty to act. She was no little girl to cower in corners and let others deal with the danger.

Setting her shoulders, her eyes flashed as she made her decision. Dashing for the railing separating her from the stadium, she pushed chakra into her legs, drawing on all the speed she could muster.

Behind her she heard Kakashi-sensei cry out in alarm, but she ignored it. One of the Oto-nin turned and struck out at her, but she whipped her body around in the spherical motions that Ero-sennin had drilled into her so well, and flew into the air.

Arching her back, she spun over the mans arm, and rolled over the railing. As she fell, she turned and sent chakra to the soles of her feet and the palms of her hands. Clinging to the wall with her hands and toes, she slid to a stop on the surface of the wall.

She clung there for a moment as her body readjusted to her sudden change of position. Above her, she could hear Kakashi-sensei ordering her to stay put, his voice sharp and tense. But the metallic clash of kunai blades told her the Oto-nin had no intention of allowing anyone else to escape, and she had a duty to fulfill.

Springing to her feet, she raced around the stadium, body parallel to the ground below her as she ran. The suna jounin in the arena spotted her, and sent four kunai with exploding tags fluttering from the handles arcing up towards her before the proctor recaptured his attention.

Tossing a glance over her shoulder as the blades struck the wall not far behind her, she raced for the top of the wall and swung her body over the top, dropping down the other side as the sound of the explosion reached her ears.

Flinching slightly, she rubbed a hand over one ear as she sprang off the wall and onto the nearest roof. Without pausing, she inhaled deeply, catching the scents of Gaara and Teruyoshi both.

Narrowing her eyes, she sprang after them, locked onto their trail as she leapt from building to building. Soon she realized that they were heading out of the village. When she reached the great wall surrounding Konoha, she took another deep sniff, and found their trail led directly over it.

Dashing to the top of the wall, she wondered why none of the chuunin who were assigned to patrol and guard the wall had stopped them. Even if they did have explicit permission to be inside Konoha, foreign shinobi were supposed to be carefully monitered.

She was surprised to find the top of the wall totally devoid of shinobi. Unnerved, she stopped for a moment to survey her surroundings. Glancing to the east, she paled. An enormous, three-headed snake had crushed a large section of wall and lay half in and half out of the village, hissing menacingly.

Around the beast were the flashing blurs of many, many shinobi engaging in midair combat. She could only suppose there were more on the ground, and several more seemed tasked to keep the snake at bay.

Shuddering, she wiped the palms of her hands on her pants. That must be where all the patrols had gone. Resolutely turning away from the scene, she mentally entrusted the safety of the village to her older, more experienced comrades, and continued on the trail she'd been following.

Swallowing hard, she queasily wondered if she'd ever be able to look at snakes again without feeling a certain amount of loathing. Then she shook her head grimly, and forced herself to re-focus on the task at hand.

Once in the forest, she had the advantage. Shinobi were all acclimated to the unique attributes and dangers of their home ground, and she was no different. She'd spent the greater part of her life learning to bound through the trees as easily as if their branches were solid ground.

Maneuvering here, in the thick forest of towering trees, she was at home, completely in her element. It was as if the land itself lent her strength and speed. The Suna-nin, on the other hand, were used to the arid, shifting sands of desert, accustomed to ever shifting terrain and unceasing wind that covered their tracks.

While they were capable of maneuvering here, they lacked the natural ease and grace that Narumi possessed, her powerful thigh and core muscles launching her through the trees more quickly than they could travel.

After entering the trees, the scents quickly grew stronger, as did her sense of Gaara's blazing, scarlet-laced chakra. She was gaining, and gaining quickly. Abruptly, the feel of the redheads chakra began moving away from her more quickly.

'_They must have sensed me somehow.'_

Narrowing her eyes, she increased the flow of chakra through her legs slightly, further fortifying and enhancing the already formidable muscles. Fine. If that was how they wanted to play it, they could go right ahead. She'd still win this particular contest. Damned if she'd be outdone on her own home-ground.

Soon after, just as they'd begun to put a fair amount of distance between themselves and Konoha, she caught up to the brothers. They halted on a branch ahead of her, and she alighted just across from them, voice triumphant.

"Finally caught up. Didn't think I'd just let you get away, did ya? Ain't happenin', 'ttebayo!"

Teruyoshi stared hard at her, grip on his limp brothers wrist tightening.

"Uzumaki."

The other blondes green eyes flickered back and forth between her and the boy whose arm was slung around his neck. He swallowed hard, sweat beading at his temples as their other brother, Kankuo, slid a few steps to the side, away from Gaara.

Drawing in a deep breath, Teruyoshi glared at her, his voice dropping to a lower register as he growled at her.

"Get out of here now if you what's good for you, Konoha."

Baring her teeth, she snarled back at him, completely undeterred by the threat lurking beneath the surface of his words.

"Like hell!"

Both boys scowled at her, and Teruyoshi's voice was sharper than ever as he bit out his next words.

"You're already too late anyway. There's no point."

She knew what he was trying to say. But he had no clue what he was saying, what he was suggesting she do. Lifting her chin and pulling her shoulders back, she straightened proudly.

"As long as we carry the Will of Fire, there is _always_ a point."

There was a moment of silence, where the Suna-nin merely stared at her with an unreadable gaze. Kankuro broke the tense atmosphere, stepping in front of his brothers and removing a freshly wrapped puppet from his back.

"I'll hold her off, Aniki. Take Gaara and go."

Teruoshi startled, eyes widening slightly as he stared at Kankuro.

"Are you sure?"

The black-clad boy chuckled, eyes intent on Narumi, and refused to look back at his brothers as he answered.

"Of course I'm sure. You take care of the mission, and I'll catch up to you once I've dealt with this."

Teruyoshi shifted his grip on Gaara a couple of times, staring at the back of Kankuro's headdress. Then he nodded firmly, chin jerking down in acknowledgment.

"Understood."

Then he was off, springing away through the trees. Narumi shouted and tried to circle the current opponent, attempting to spring after her wayward prey. But Kankuro moved with her, smirking even as he blocked her movement.

Narumi halted, frustrated, as the scents traveled further and further away from her.

"Guess I've got no choice."

As she started to fall into a combat stance, a cool voice rang out behind her.

"No, Narumi-chan. That won't be necessary."

Startled, she threw a sharp look over her shoulder. Shinako Aburame stood just behind her, hood drawn up over her hair, dark glasses glinting as she came up to stand beside her.

"I've been following you you for a while now."

Narumi swallowed her surprise, shifting slightly closer to her comrade and eyeing the enemy across from them warily.

"Why?"

The darker girl flushed slightly, and her voice was both determined, and slightly embarrassed.

"It came to my attention as you left the stadium that you needed backup."

Shaking her head slightly, the other girl shifted her weight forward.

"It is of no importance. I'll handle this. You go after Gaara."

Narumi hesitated, and then nodded, bumping the quiet girls shoulder with her own and murmuring quietly to her.

"Thanks, Shinako. Be careful, 'ttebayo."

The Aburame inclined her head slightly, and then Narumi shot into the trees surrounding them, circling around behind Kankuro, and speeding off after the other two Suna-nin.

Behind her, she could hear Kankuro laugh.

"Are you sure you wanna do this, kiddo? I don't go easy on little girls, no matter ho weird they are."

Shinako's soft voice was sharp, and cold as ice when she replied, and Narumi shivered at the tone, even as a pleased grin spread across her face.

"Oh, I assure you, I am most willing. Unfortunately, I can't give you a handicap, since you are an enemy of the village. You will not leave this place."

Then she was out of hearing range, and had to concentrate on her footing and catching up to her quarry as she shot through the forest at high speed.

Not long after she left the two adversaries behind, she managed to catch up to the other two Suna-nin. She grinned tightly at them as she launched herself into the air and twisted to come down facing them.

Falling into a combat stance, she blatantly blocked their way, hissing softly at them in triumph.

"That's as far as you go!"

They'd come to a stop as soon as she'd re-appeared and something about the pair seemed...off.

That was when the wind changed direction. She found herself downwind of the two remaining Suna-nin, and what she smelled on that rush of air chilled her blood for a moment.

Gaara's scent. It wasn't merely tinged with the metallic, dry odor that she'd come to associate with his demon. It was practically smothered in it, the human scent of him drowned out by the beast she could sense just beneath his skin.

Her stomach twisted sickeningly, and she suddenly knew what Suna had planned. Why they were so keen on bringing Gaara, making sure that he had enough chakra, and alarmed when he seemed to momentarily fall through on their expectations.

'_By all the Kami, it's the demon! They're going to let the demon take over him. Just like the Kyuubi tries to do to me sometimes. And then they'll use the demon against Konoha. Are they insane?'_

Her mouth went dry as she stared at the two other genin, her mind racing as she worked through the implications. This was a potential disaster for Konoha. People still spoke of the Kyuubi attack with awe and fear in their voices.

Bijuu were destructive beyond belief, and the destruction left in their wake was slow to heal. This time, Konoha would have no legendary Yondaime to save them from the beast. If that was even possible.

She knew now that Yondaime-sama had saved the village by sealing Kyuubi into her newborn self. But Bijuu who already had hosts could not be re-sealed in another person or object until their current jinchuuriki was dead.

Teruyoshi didn't seem to realize that she'd just figured out the horrific plan he was trying to safeguard. Grimly, he started to shift, as if looking for a way to dart around her. Then Gaara lifted his head slightly, pale eyes sliding open to glare at his brother, though the expression lacked strength.

"Put me down Teruyoshi."

Surprised, the other blonde glanced down at his brother, his grip slackening slightly as he regarded the slight redhead.

"Gaara! Can you move again?"

Even before he received an answer, carefully slid his arms free of the boy, allowing him to stand on his own. Gaara flinched, and pressed a hand to his head as if in pain. Though his legs were unsteady, he remained standing.

Teruyoshi's eyes were darting between her and Gaara, and he seemed agitated, but Narumi ignored him, her attention entirely focused on the other jinchuuriki. Leaning closer to his brother, body tense he started to pull something from his weapons holster.

Widening his stance, Gaara fixed his eyes on Narumi, growling ferociously at the other Suna-nin crouched beside him.

"Go away Teruyoshi!"

The older boy blinked in surprise, his shoulders losing their rigid set, hand clasped loosely around a container of something that smelled like medicinal herbs.

"Eh? Gaara?"

The red head scowled, stance firming as he suddenly smashed a painful looking backhand into his brothers ribs, sending him flying off to the side.

"Just go over there! You're in the way!"

Teruyoshi choked out a surprised cry before he struck the tree. When he hit the trunk, his head snapped back, cracking loudly against the weathered bark. His eyes widened, white showing all the way around his iris, and then slid closed as he slumped to the branch unconscious.

Narumi stared wide-eyed at the sudden, callous display of brute strength. The boy heaved in a few panting breathes, eyes closed. Then his dark ringed eyes snapped open, fixing intently on her.

Oddly enough, his expression wasn't nearly as maniac or menacing as it had been in the stadium. But that only made her more wary. She knew Gaara wasn't truly, fully insane. But neither was she, and she knew the madness and danger of Bijuu.

She feared Kyuubi, even though he was locked securely within the seal on her abdomen. And if she feared Kyuubi, she was not so foolish as to not fear the other Bijuu. However Gaara behaved right now, the fact was that his demon lay very close beneath the surface of his skin. She'd have to be careful.

Cracks suddenly spiderwebbed across Gaara's skin, and he convulsed, crying out and snatching at his hair. Narumi's eyes widened. After a moment, he seemed to get the pain under control, squinting one eye closed and fixing the other unblinkingly on her.

"You. You're strong. I can smell predator on you."

Slowly, Narumi nodded, bright blue eyes fixed on the pained figure before her, body tense and hyper-aware as she prepared herself for whatever came next.

"Yes. And I can smell it on you as well."

His eyes widened, demonic chakra pulsing as he hissed out in a strangely compelling tone.

"You have friends. Goals. And you are similar to me."

Ignoring the almost accusatory pitch lent to the last few words. Narumi swallowed hard. She wasn't sure why this scared her so much, but she was the kunoichi who would become Hokage. She wasn't about to let a little fear stand in her way when she needed to take action.

"Yes. I am like you."

Excitement entered the other genin's voice, and his body practically vibrated with anticipation, bloodlust leaking from him in thick, sluggish waves.

"By killing you, I can exist in this world! I will be the one who erased your existence! If I kill you, I will feel alive!"

Narumi gritted her teeth, forcing herself to stay as relaxed and limber as possible. Her modified taijutsu would be rendered useless if her body was stiff and rigid, and she couldn't afford a disadvantage like that right now.

With an agonized cry, the other boy hit his knees, screaming and clawing at his hair. Narumi's eyes widened, watching as pieces of his face appeared to flake away, cracks spreading further and further.

Suddenly feeling an intense desire to help, she started to move forward, half-intending to leap to his side. She couldn't have said why. She knew it would have been beyond foolish. But she couldn't be sure she wouldn't have done it, had she not been already too late.

Gaara's arm suddenly exploded into the great, clawed thing that had attacked Sasuke from within Gaara's defense just before the beginning of the invasion. And it wasn't just his arm either. That entire half of his upper body and head had changed as well. Transforming his screams of pain into words, he howled at her.

"You are my PREY!"

He stilled for a moment, and when the transformed eye slid open, she saw that the sclera had turned black, and his iris had transformed into a shining gold with a cross shaped pupil. A shiver ran down her spine as that eye fixed on her.

Suddenly the half-boy, half-beast sprang at her with an enraged cry. Saliva flew from the corner of the transformed, lipless side of his mouth, and his razor fangs glinted in the dappled light seeping through the forest canopy.

Alarmed, Narumi sprang up and a way, summoning a Kage Bunshin to yank her onto a higher branch. The one she'd been standing on splintered under the force of the enormous hand that Gaara had smashed into it.

Gaara grinned crazily up at her, voice rough as the transformed appendage writhed around him as if it had a life of its own.

"Are you scared of me...? Are you scared of me Uzumaki?"

Compressing her lips, she summoned five more clones, and growled decisively at him.

"Like hell, 'ttebayo!"

She launched herself from the branch, surrounded by her clones as they all hurtled towards the figure below them. Gaara laughed wildly, lashing out wildly. Three clones were thrown into trees when his thrashing arm hit them.

Another dispersed when he tore a hole in its side with his claws. Narumi narrowed her eyes as ghost pain flitted across her nerves, memories from the clones flashing through her mind as she reached her target.

Careful not to come within arms reach of him, she launched a barrage of shuriken at him. Drawing his arm around to use it as a shield. When the shuriken struck, they were sucked into his arm, almost as if it were quicksand.

Cursing, Narumi sprang back into another tree, eyeing him warily. He chuckled darkly, crazed grin spreading wider as he crowed at her.

"Here, let me give these back!"

The kunai re-emerged from his arm, speeding towards her, their blades glowing cherry red with heat. Swiftly throwing herself into a spin, she threw torso forward, managing to twist around the blades without being hit.

One passed so close by her that she felt the heat of its blade on her face for a fleeting moment.

'_Note to self. Don't throw sharp pointy objects at him unless absolutely necessary.'_

Gaara roared with laughter, and launched himself towards her, his speed many times greater than she would have thought considering his unbalanced, bulky body.

Clenching her jaw tightly, she turned towards him with wide eyes, alarmed. Seeing the enormous arm whistling towards her, she realized that she couldn't dodge, and the experiences of her shadow clones whispered that that arm would tear through her like wet paper.

Can't defend, can't evade. Time to get down and dirty.

Once again, she swung her body into a full on twisting rotation, slinging her upper body beneath the sweeping slice of Gaara's arm, and smashing her foot into the human side of his face with all the force she could muster.

Gaara was taken off guard by the move, and sent flying into a tree, his strange arm winding around it and latching on. She snorted. Well, she was better at close combat anyway. Long range was Sasuke-teme's gig.

Sand poured out of the boys gourd, forming into a long, barbed tail behind him. She hissed, realizing that whatever was going on, progression of a transformation involving demonic chakra was probably not a good thing.

Gritting her teeth, she squared her shoulders and bounced once on the balls of her feet, locking gazes with Gaara. Determined ocean blue battling against enraged gold and turquoise.

"Why don't you just calm down, Gaara."

The boys eyes widened, and he raised a hand to press to his temple, staring at her as if she'd grown a second head. Then he shook his head wildly and glared at her, as if willing her to combust on the spot.

"Why? Why do you fight? Don't you know I'm going to kill you!"

Narumi blinked. There were parts of it she couldn't explain, but the most basic part of her motivation was something that spilled easily from her mouth, and and her heart, so much a part of her that she didn't even have to think about it. She was fighting now for the same reason she always fought when it came to a real battle.

A growl rumbled in her chest, and she when she spoke her voice was strong.

"To protect my comrades! You're hurting them. You and your village."

The answer seemed to anger her opponent, and he scowled at her, tail lashing wildly.

"I'll kill you!"

Clenching her teeth, she sprang at him, clenching her fists as she hurtled towards the branch on which he stood. As she neared him, he lashed out with his tail, cracking her across her lower torso, and sending her hurtling into a tree.

As her back slammed into the bark, she grunted in pain, dazedly scrambling to remain upright with her feet under her. Shaking her head to clear it, she heaved in a painful breath, fixing her eyes on the agitated Suna-nin.

"K-kuso!"

'_This is bad! He's stronger than I thought! He's not trying to keep control of the Bijuu at all!'_

Gaara laughed wildly, throwing his head back, mouth wide open to reveal the unnervingly clear divide between glistening demon fangs, and normal human teeth.

"You fight for others? HAH! Look at you! You may be a predator, but these foolish ideas have made you dull and slow! Fighting for them, it's made you so weak!"

Crazed eyes lowered back to her as his laughter died away.

"Throw away such ideas, and fight only for yourself! I want to kill a true predator, not a toothless kitten!"

Narrowing her eyes, she growled threateningly at him, feeling the almost animalistic sound rumble in her chest and rise through her throat. It was very satisfying, a perfect expression of her anger.

"Foolish? Fighting for my comrades, my _friends_ is foolish?"

Bending her knees, she raised her hands in front of her and cracked her knuckles angrily, eyes blazing as she called on her chakra to reinforce her body. Playtime was over.

"Listen up, bastard! I'm gonna beat some sense into you!"

Drawing a long handled kunai from her holster, she launched herself into the air, flipping around and hurtling down towards him, weapon raised. Gaara had been tracking her progress, but he hesitated as she came towards him, human hand rising in the now familiar gesture of clutching at his temple.

She thought she had him, but his tail whipped up and knocked her back with an almost distracted flick. One of the barbs caught at the lower part of her shirt, slashing it open, but it never touched her skin, and the strike was almost gentle compared to the previous hit.

Twisting around, she caught a branch and swung her body into a slingshot maneuver around it, shedding her momentum, and landing lightly atop it, chakra instinctively rushing to the soles of her feet and grounding her on the mossy bark.

Launching back in, she lashed out at him with her hands and feet, moving around him in tight, circular motions as she launched every kick and punch she could manage in his direction.

Gaara's head thrashed from side to side, his strange limbs undulating around his body to shield him from her strikes as she tried again and again to reach him. Frustrated, she launched her body into a drop-heel kick aimed at his head.

That arm of his caught it, and the next thing she knew, her foot was being sucked into the sandy substance that made up his transformed arm. A golden eye locked onto her, and she snarled, alarmed. Quickly, she leapt up and planted her other foot on the surface of the limb, shoving off before he could grab it like he had the other.

The force of the move sent her flying back to a distant branch, and yanked her foot savagely free of the trap that held it. She winced, gritting her teeth against the flare of hot pain in her ankle, before shoving it away, knowing Kyuubi would heal it in a matter of moments.

Gaara roared, eyes wild, strange limbs extending and swinging wildly. Narumi widened, dodging backward as the strange appendages smashed through the trunks of several full grown trees, felling them in an instant.

Gasping, she surged backward, flipping out of range. A bead of sweat flew from her skin as she landed again, staring. Too strong. This guy was too strong for her to take head on as she'd planned. She needed help.

'_This'll take a lot of chakra...but it's all I can think of!'_

Flashing through a quick series of hand seals, she lifted her thumb to her mouth, and bit it lightly, just enough to break the skin. Blood welled to the surface, thick and red, it's coppery scent sharp in the air around them.

Quickly, before Gaara could react adversely to the scent of the substance he claimed to crave, she slammed her hand down on the bark at her feet.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

At the moment she started to push out her chakra, Gaara began to transform fully. Her eyes widened, taking in the strange, squat, sharp-toothed form that crouched before her, and alarm ran through her.

'_I have to draw on Kyuubi's chakra to summon Boss! But pulling out more Bijuu chakra right now is probably a really bad idea.'_

At the last moment, she pulled away from the crimson chakra she'd been about to feed into her jutsu, instead calling on the calming well of blue at her core. The more limited amount of chakra spilled from her hand, twisting in the familiar pattern.

Instead of Boss, what appeared before her in a puff of smoke was an orange toad small enough to ride on her head. It blinked up at her, apparently confused.

"What the...nothing but a squirt! Oi, I ain't playin' with you without a snack!"

Resisting the urge to roll her eyes or smack the thing, she turned away sharply, eyes fixed on her enemy.

"Sorry, I don't have time to play right now! Kinda busy!"

The small creature twisted around and craned it's neck to look over its shoulder towards Gaara from its place at her feet. It's yellow eyes shot wide open, but she had no time to dismiss the creature.

Gaara swung an arm, crying out in a voice that was amazingly still identical to his normal one.

"Suna shuriken!"

Globs of hardened and no doubt deadly sand were suddenly sent hurtling towards them. Alarmed, Narumi scooped up the small toad in her arms, holding it tightly against her chest as she tried to dodge.

One of the clumps of sand struck her hard in the shoulder, sending her spinning from the branch to crash into a trunk behind her, and then down onto a further branch, body aching from the impact.

The toad squinted up at her, it's voice unimpressed as it lay across her arms.

"You're weak."

Glaring indignantly at the small animal in its haori, she growled at it through gritted teeth.

"Shut up!"

It ignored her, wiggling out of her arms and hopping forward to perch on her knee, gesturing curiously towards Gaara's transformed self with one wide webbed foot.

"Who is that?"

She looked at the strange being grinning madly at her from it's perch, and stared hard at the golden eyes. Something about them had been bothering her. It was the feeling she had gotten from them that had originally drawn her in, despite a strong sense that this was her enemy.

In that moment, it struck her what she was seeing. Loneliness. His eyes were so very lonely, and sad. A familiar agony that used to stare back at her every time she looked in the mirror. Before. When she was small, and had no one, he eyes had looked just like that.

When she spoke, her voice was soft, and steady. She wasn't sure if she was speaking to the toad, to herself, or to the creature that lashed its tail hungrily as it stared at her.

"He's Gaara. Gaara of Sunagakure."

'_I don't know what happened to him. But he's not lucky like me. He never found people. He's been alone, and all he can ever rely on is himself.'_

Sucking in a shuddering breath, she forced herself to her feet, chest feeling like it was filled nearly to bursting with something she couldn't identify. Whatever it was, it sent waves of energy coursing through her blood and set her muscles twitching, eager for action.

Putting the toad down carefully on the branch, she crouched and pushed off, flying towards Gaara as fast as she could manage, and lifting her fingers into the cross shaped seal of her favorite jutsu.

"Tajuu Kage Bunshin!"

A good thirty clones appeared around her, and all of them hurtled in together, eyes grim, knuckles popping. Mouthes appeared all over Gaara's body, sucking in huge gusts of air, his chest expanding grotesquely. Then he blew it all out in one great fuuton jutsu, enveloping all the clones and the original in a gale of wind borne sand.

Experiences rushed into Narumi as the clones dispersed around her, all of them held almost still in the air by the pressure of the updraft. She found herself spinning backwards to crash hard into another trunk.

Dazedly, she allowed herself to sprawl across a branch, pain radiating across her body as she coughed, fighting for breath after the unsuccessful attack. Absently, she wondered if she was grateful for, or alarmed at, the presence of so many trees in her homeland.

On the one hand, it was the environment that she was most comfortable in, which was something only Konoha-nin could really claim. On the other hand, the trees seemed perfectly willing to help Gaara beat her to a pulp.

Gaara's voice rang in her ears, dark and slightly sadistic as he murmured to her, his tone almost gentle in its softness.

"I'll play around with you for now, so you don't die just yet. I can't wait to see you give up!"

Narumi struggled to her hands and knees, her breathing harsh as she glared at him. She was sorely tempted to draw on the Kyuubi's chakra, but who knew how volatile a mix the chakra of multiple Bijuu would be.

And besides all that, it felt wrong. Fighting fire with fire would not work in this case, it would only put her in danger of being burned as badly as her opponent. Maybe worse, because from the looks of things, she had a lot more to lose than he did.

That same feeling rushed up through her, and with an effort, she shoved herself to her feet, lifting her head to glare at Gaara. She could feel the sticky warmth of a trail of blood oozing down her chin from the corner of her mouth, and wondered vaguely what she'd bitten.

Drawing in a deep breath, she shouted at Gaara, voice and posture defiant and determined.

"I won't lose to you, not even if I have to die!"

Reaching back into her weapons pouch, she extracted a shuriken and an exploding tag, slowly and carefully wrapping the tag around the handle. She had a vague idea, nothing like a strategy. But it was all she had, so she'd run with it as far as she could.

Quickly, she summoned four shadow clones, each of them with a kunai in hand. Pushing off from the branch, they shot towards him, bodies tense with the knowledge that this would most likely be painful.

"Let's go!"

Gaara's grin widened, and his hand shot out to catch three of them at once. The clones wrapped their arms around his fingers, twining their legs around his wrist for a firm grip, and shouted back to the rest of the group.

"Now, boss!"

Another Narumi sailed in to plant her feet firmly on Gaara's outstretched hand, the edges of another Narumi's jacket clenched tight in her fists as she arched her spine back, face twisted into a snarl of concentration.

WIth an almighty heave, she whipped the last Narumi figure towards Gaara at high speed. This one lifted her hands into the familiar hand seal, calling out sharply.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Just as she was about to crash into Gaara's face, even as his other hand reached up to snatch her, she was enveloped in a cloud of smoke. The clone that appeared grabbed the original, and whipped around, taking her place. Gaara's free hand struck the clone away, but Narumi sailed over his head with a cry.

"Again!"

Lifting her hands as she twisted to face his back, she called forth another clone. This one appeared face down in the air below her, and she used it's back as a launching pad, changing her direction so that she landed directly behind Gaara.

Slamming her fist forward in a powerful straight punch that landed right over his spine, she shuddered to a halt. If his body had still been that of a human, she would have done fairly serious damage. For a shinobi, they'd have a nasty bruise and the wind knocked out of them, but for a civilian, it would have snapped their spine.

Gaara, however, barely seemed to notice. His head twisted around to look at her, and his tail smashed into her side, throwing her away from him. Her hair tie had slipped free of the end of her braid, and the loose golden strands of her hair fluttered and swirled around her, shading her eyes as she was flung backwards through the air.

Quietly, she murmured a single word to herself, even as her spine arched from the pain of the blow, and blood trickled down the side of her face.

"Boom."

The kunai with it's harmless looking tag, the one that Gaara hadn't noticed her leave embedded in his thick, sandy hide, exploded violently. Smoke obscured Gaara from her sight as she skidded across a wide branch, rolling a few times before fetching up against the trunk.

The little orange toad was next to her face, it's flippers folded across the top of its head as it squinted one eye open to look between her and the last place it had seen her enemy.

"N-nice move. Did you get him?"

Blinking to clear her vision, she turned her gaze back to the clearing smoke, the same question wandering through her mind. Gaara was still standing, but half of his strange sand body seemed like it was melting off, and he didn't look happy at all.

Absently running a finger across one of the small toads eye ridges, she kept her eyes on Gaara.

"No. But I've made a start. I said I'd beat sense into him, and I will!"

Struggling to her feet, she lifted her hands into a basic seal, and snarled, calling on her chakra with all of her strength, reaching deep within the well of energy at her core to call it forth in a great wave.

The resulting burst was so intense that it manifested visibly, a writing ball of blue flames that twined around her, bright and slightly lighter in shade than her own eyes. Power flowed around her as she pushed deeper.

Lazy currents of air stirred up by the presence of her chakra lifted her hair, causing it to swirl and writhe in the air around her in a strange fashion, and tugging at her jacket and shirt, causing them to flutter.

"I'll show you Gaara! I'll definitely protect everyone!"

Silently, though she wasn't sure how she'd manage it, she grimly added a last few words to the end of her statement.

'_...including you!'_

An army of clones burst into existence, splotching the green of the forest with orange and gold as the grinned at Gaara. The voice of the pleased amphibian at her feet floated up to her as the little toad surveyed her work.

"You're not bad. Guess you've got some good qualities after all."

Twisting wildly to stare at the immense numbers surrounding him, Gaara choked out a half snarl in angry disbelief.

"What's with this number of bunshin?"

All at once, all the Narumi's surged forward. A barrage of shuriken flew towards Gaara and he threw up his still untouched arm to protect himself in alarm. As the shuriken struck, another group of clones rose up from beneath the branch he perched on.

Somersaulting in the air, they slammed their feet into him, throwing the thick body up into the air. Every other clone who could find purchase surged forward and sank their fists into him with a simple right straight.

Each punch had all the weight and strength the original Narumi could throw into it, and it was replicated many times over, fists sinking into every square inch of the sandy body. As the clones leapt away into the trees, Gaara's deformed, melted looking body hurtled downwards and crashed hard into the forest floor.

Whip quick, the clones reversed themselves and flew down after him, intent on pummeling him with as many kicks as possible, and deepening the crater he lay in. Wild gold eyes stared up at them as they descended through the air.

Wrenching himself upright, Gaara roared up at her in fury.

"I won't lose to you!"

The clones eyes widened as an enormous construct of barbed, blue-veined, sandy flesh sprouted up from the ground, surging upwards and blasting through the greater number of clones, dispersing them with blasts of smoke and displaced chakra.

Narumi sucked in a sharp breath as the experiences of the clones rushed into her system, phantom pain dancing along her body from the myriad wounds that had dispersed each clone.

A blast of smoke erupted where the clones had been, and Narumi found herself and the little toad both thrown violently back through the air. Catching the creature in the crook of one arm, she stared up wide-eyed at the enormous being coming into view through the slowly settling smoke and dust.

She swallowed hard, a tremor running down her spine, and then back up to the base of her skull. A Bijuu. Gaara's Bijuu loomed above the forest. She felt like someone had thrown ice water on her.

Gaara's voice, booming and cold with rage echoed down from the beast, though its mouth never moved.

"Didn't expect to have to use this technique!"

It raised it's clawed hand towards her, and she struggled with confusion over wether this was some transformed version of Gaara, or the actual Bijuu itself. Then she heard hissing, and felt the brush against her skin.

Looking down in alarm, she cried out as sand wrapped around her body, yanking her arms to her sides and holding her tightly in place. Staring down at the undulating substance holding her, she gritted her teeth.

She'd already used most of her chakra on that Tajuu Kage Bunshin. Sand rose slowly up to wrap her in a cocoon, and she knew that Gaara was planning to crush her, just as he'd crushed the shinobi who'd approached him before his match with Sasuke.

Resolve hardened in her chest. She wouldn't lose like this. Clenching her fist tightly, she felt blood run over her fingers. It was enough. She still thought this was risky, but it was all that was left to her at the moment, so she'd have to go for it.

Flashing through the seals, she heard Gaara's voice from outside her prison.

"This is it for you! Sabaku-"

Before he could finish the technique and crush her, she slammed her hand into the sand surrounding her and shouted.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

Sand exploded around her, mingling with smoke as a slightly damp surface appeared beneath her feet, and her body surged upwards. Breathing hard, she fixed her eyes on the creature before her, its tail waving agitatedly back and forth.

Gaara's dark chuckle rang out, quickly followed by his amused voice.

"Uzumaki Narumi...you entertain me greatly."

Beneath her, GamaBunta rumbled irately, just as she remembered him.

"What the hell? You again? What do you want?"

Blinking, she gestured helplessly towards the beast across from them. Gamabunta blinked, and shifted his eyes towards it, apparently surprised into silence for a moment. When he spoke, his voice was contemplative.

"That's...Shukaku of the sand..."

The small toad she'd summoned earlier suddenly flopped onto her shoulder, addressing Gamabunta plainly.

"Kid needs some help here, Pops."

Large yellow eyes swiveled up to peer at the two of them, and Gamabunta rumbled in surprise beneath her feet.

"What are you doing here, Gamakichi?"

The little toad shrugged, voice nonchalant.

"I was bored, so I came out here to play. Anyway, that guy tried to pick on me!"

This last was said while pointing dramatically at the newly dubbed Shukaku/Gaara. Narumi just crossed her eyes to peer up at the little thing, still dumbfounded by the new revelation.

"You two are father and son?"

Gamabunta rumbled dangerously beneath her feet, temper building almost palpably.

"What was that?"

The little toad flopped forward on her hair, large feet dangling over her forehead as he nestled down against her hair.

"Then this kunoichi helped me out. She was able to fight equally with him. She's a pretty interesting woman, ya know?"

Gamabunta listened patiently, his tone deceptively mild as he eyed the large being in front of them.

"I see."

Reaching back to wrap his webbed hand around the wooden hilt of a dagger worn at his side, Gamabunta addressed her in his own rough manner.

"Gaki! I formally accept you as my subordinate."

Drawing his sword, he glared at Shukaku/Gaara, voice stern.

"I'll show you how the moral code works in this world!"

Turning his attention away from her, he addressed the enemy, voice rumbling menacingly.

"You're gonna pay for what you did, flunky!"

Narumi stumbled and fell back with a yelp as Gamabunta surged forward, quickly bracing herself with chakra. Shukaku/Gaara raised a clawed hand as they charged, as if intending to attack.

Narrowing his eyes, the toad boss shot past his enemy, slicing the upraised arm cleanly off with his long dagger. The severed limb melted away into ordinary sand as it was parted from the main body.

"INTERESTING! THIS IS SO INTERESTING, UZUMAKI NARUMI!"

As he turned, Shukaku/Gaara raised his hands into a seal. Suddenly, Gaara's torso rose from the sandy flesh of the beasts head, half slumped as he peered over at her through the hair flopping over his eyes.

Gamabunta seemed surprised, peering at the slight form protruding from the great beasts head.

"Is that the host?"

Gaara's voice was low, lacking the bloodlust or mania that he had exhibited earlier in his transformed state. Narumi shifted nervously, and for a moment, she wondered if her opponents unconscious brother would be safe where Gaara had left him.

"This is a reward for entertaining me. I'll show you Shukaku's true strength."

As Gaara brought his hands together again in that same hand seal, Gamabunta spoke quietly to himself.

"Yeah, definitely the host. Just look at the rings around his eyes."

Narumi frowned, going to one knee and leaning over an eye ridge to meet Gamabunta's gaze as best she could.

"What, Boss? What about 'em?"

Turning his attention briefly to her, the great toad explained as quietly as possible, though it was hard to be truly soft spoken when your quietest whisper boomed out over the trees.

"Insomnia. Hosts to Shukaku always have insomnia. They can't sleep properly, because they're too afraid. When they fall asleep, Shukaku torments them with horrible dreams that shred their mind and sanity. It's the reason so many of Shukaku's host become unstable."

Narumi frowned, lifting her eyes back to Gaara. Afraid to sleep? She'd been through a lot with Kyuubi, but at least she could sleep alright. Whether it was because of the seal that held him back, or maybe the fox was simply less twisted than the monster racoon before her. Either way, she certainly seemed more fortunate than Gaara now.

Gamabunta crouched a bit lower, and now his voice was wary.

"As long as the host is awake, Shukaku's power is limited. But if he falls asleep, Shukaku will fully emerge."

Gaara muttered something under his breath, and his chakra surged, turning inwards. Narumi's eyes widened, and her head jerked up in alarm. But it was too late to do anything.

Gaara slumped heavily forward, chin falling to his chest and arms swaying limply as collapsed into a deep sleep that looked remarkably close to unconsciousness. Below her Gamabunta barked out in alarm.

"He's done it now!"

Narumi gulped, crouching lower and spreading her hands on the surface of the great toads head, feeling the smaller toad twist webbed fingers into her hair in much the same fashion.

"Boss?"

Her tentative voice was drowned out as Shukaku threw back its head and cackled shrilly. She shivered as it crowed at the sky. That was not Gaara's voice any longer, and she didn't like the difference.

Even the scents on the wind had changed, and she realized now where that metalic scent of madness had come from. Shukaku's scent, all metal and death, worse even than the Kyuubi's, overwhelmed the scent of the suna-nin, flooding her nose.

"**Finally! I'm finally out here!" **

She swallowed hard.

"Shukaku..."

Gamakichi kept his voice remarkably calm, despite the firmer grip he'd taken on her hair, his tone nearly laconic.

"Pretty funky, ain't he Nee-chan?"

Letting out a shrill, yelping bark, the Bijuu thrust a great claw out towards them, voice fairly dripping excited bloodlust.

"**I've found someone I want to kill!" **

Narumi furrowed her brows, and glared at the thing. This was the reason Gaara was always in so much pain. Part of her was afraid, and wondered how Yondaime, the Hokage she'd always looked up to, had ever faced Kyuubi alone.

The larger part, however, was angry. How dare this half-mad creature inflict so much suffering on Gaara! To rob him not only of a normal life, of caring friends and family, as the Kyuubi had done to her, but to even drive him mad by robbing him of such a simple thing as _sleep! _

Furious, she bared her teeth in a silent snarl.

Grimly, Gamabunta ducked his head, rumbling a warning up at her as his pipe slid to the corner of his mouth.

"We're gonna fly."

She nodded once, sharply, going to one knee to lower her center of gravity, leaving one hand spread atop the Boss' head, and lifting the other to lay gently across Gamakichi's back.

Lifting his remaining arm above his head, Shukaku screeched out a technique name, his belly distending as he spoke.

"**Fuuton: Renkuudan!"**

Slamming his hand into his own stomach with painful looking force, he stretched his mouth wide, an enormous bullet of wind shooting towards them so fast that it sent a blast wave rippling through the forest canopy.

Leaping high into the air, Gamabunta avoided the attack, forming a handseal of his own as he soared into the sky.

"Suiton: Teppoudama!"

A water bullet shot from the great toads mouth, and Shukaku met it with another wind bullet. Water exploded outward in a great spray, drenching the surrounding forest. Boss landed just beyond Shukaku, and immediately shot back up into the air, twisting to face the enemy.

Just in time too, as Shukaku spat out two more air bullets. Gamabunta countered them with more water bullets, causing more enormous sprays of water to lash the canopy below, making it toss as if it were caught in a heavy rain.

The spray of water temporarily masked Shukaku's movement, but it couldn't completely cover such a strong smell. Narumi sniffed hard, and then her eyes widened in alarm.

"Watch out Boss!"

Before Gamabunta could react to her warning, another air bullet exploded through the spray beneath them, striking the great toad squarely in the chest. The surface beneath her feet rocked dangerously, and she frantically channelled more chakra to her feet, tightening her fingers across Gamakichi's back.

As they crashed towards the forest floor, Shukaku crowed in delight.

"**Yeah, I did it! I killed her! I killed her!"**

Irate, Gamabunta surged forward out of the cloud of smoke and dust, shooting towards the celebrating racoon monster.

"That hurt, damn it. Sure molded a lot of chakra into that one, didn't ya?"

Shukaku stopped his cheers, dropping his chin aggressively, causing Gaara's torso to sway heavily. Turning his attention to Narumi, the great toad rumbled out a warning.

"Even I won't last too long if I get hit by more of those, kid."

Frowning, she kept her eyes on Shukaku, mind racing.

"So what do we do, Boss?"

Gamabunta answered her easily.

"You can wake that kid up. Punch him or something. If you do that, the technique will be dispelled."

Tightening her jaw and squaring her shoulders, Narumi barked her answer out sharply, eyes blazing.

"Right, Boss! Leave it to me, 'ttebayo!"

Shukaku shot another bullet at them, and Gamabunta twisted in midair, returning a water bullet of his own. Shukaku scoffed, moving slightly backwards as the thing exploded at his feet.

Gamabunta used the cover of the spray of water to alter his course, snatching Shukaku by the shoulders as he landed right in front of it.

"Now kid!"

Tensing, she started to move towards the limp form just across from her, but before she could manage it, Shukaku tore away from Gamabunta's grasp, and the toad was forced to leap away, causing her to miss her chance.

"Boss! You have to hold him for me to get close enough!"

The toad rumbled back, already twisting around in the air.

"I'm a frog, kid! I ain't got no fangs or claws to hold him with!"

Biting her lip in agitation, she tentatively made a suggestion.

"What about a henge? Would that work?"

The toad landed heavily, crushing several trees as he answered her.

"Aa, sure it would. But then again, I ain't no good with henge."

Rolling his eyes up to peer at her, his voice went sharp and commanding.

"You'll have to give me the form and make the seals. We'll make it a combo transformation!"

Normally Narumi would have loudly protested the idea. She wouldn't have been sure she could do it, especially not right off the bat. Why else did ninja drill jutsu so often, even after they'd learned to preform them, if not to make sure they could nail it in the thrill of battle.

But now was different. She had no time to hesitate or doubt her own ability here. Slamming her hands together in the starting seal for the familiar sequence she had learned in the academy, she summoned her chakra.

Below her, Gamabunta reminded her sharply.

"Think of something that has fangs and claws!"

Narumi gritted her teeth, mind racing. Now that he'd asked her, she couldn't clearly picture an animal with teeth and claws that would be useful. All she could see in her minds eye were otters, or porcupines. None of those seemed like a good idea.

But she had no time to think more. Gamabunta was already charging Shukaku. Drawing in a sharp breath, she muttered to herself.

"Fangs and claws, fangs and claws...come on Uzumaki, think!"

An image appeared in her mind at the very last minute, even as Gamabunta cried out loudly.

"Henge!"

Knowing it was no or never, she joined her voice to his, drawing on her chakra.

"Henge no Jutsu!"

A blast of white smoke surrounded them, and for a moment she couldn't see anything. But the damp surface beneath her feet had changed into warm, dry fur, short and fiery red. The skull she stood on was lean and narrow now, long ears tapering back behind her, and multiple tails waving in the smoke.

She swallowed hard, and inwardly snorted at the irony. One Bijuu to set against another.

Then they shot free of the smoke, and Gamabunta, in the form of the Kyuubi, was bounding across the remaining space towards the enemy. Shukaku warily shot out another bullet, and Gamabunta dodged to the side, his new form limber and agile.

Twisting around, he circled towards Shukaku, clawing at the beast. Shukaku moved backwards, tail lashing out towards them. Gamabunta writhed to the side, and the barbed tail gouged a furrow through the forest where they had been.

Gamabunta looked back over his shoulder at the gouge, and growled uneasily.

"This is bad. His powers are increasing."

Shukaku was lumbering towards them, his heavy footsteps making the ground quake and raising clouds of dust. Narrowing his eyes, Gamabunta snatched a clump of trees with one tail, uprooting them with a heave and jumping high in the air.

Shukaku launched another bullet at them, and Gamabunta flung the trees into the missile, causing an explosion of smoke and sawdust. Bursting through the cloud, he moved too fast for Shukaku to avoid, latching onto the beast with claws and fangs both.

Knowing this was the best chance she'd get, Narumi thrust chakra into her legs and back, leapt off Gamabunta's head. Throwing herself up towards Gaara. As she left his head, the henge dissipated, but it had served its purpose.

Gamabunta held Shukaku tightly as she landed atop his head, just in front of Gaara. Hot blood raced through her veins, and she bared her teeth in a snarl, enlarged canines glinting in the sunlight as she drew her arm back.

"Wake up, you IDIOT!"

There was a loud crack as she brought the flat of her hand crashing across his cheek, whipping his head to the side with the very first slap she had ever delivered. As Gaara's cheek reddened, Shukaku threw back his head with a shrill yell of fury.

"**Damn it, NO!" **

But it was already too late for him. Shukaku faded away as Gaara's pale eyes snapped open, fixing on Narumi. She heaved for breath, sliding slightly backwards down the slope of the beasts face, tendrils of hair falling into her eyes as she glared up at him.

Absently she noted that Gamakichi was no longer present on her head, and spared a moment to be grateful that the little guy had the good sense to leave her head before she attacked.

From behind her, where he was being slowly pushed across the forest, Gamabunta rumbled out a warning.

"Careful kid! He's still got a bit of power left in him!"

She nodded once, and launched herself back towards him. She'd nearly reached him when the surface beneath her feet gave like quicksand, sucking her left foot in and gripping it tightly, holding her in place.

Gaara glared at her, gritting out angrily.

"Sabaku Kyuu!"

Behind her, Gamakichi cried out in alarm from his fathers head as the sand surged towards her.

"Pops!"

Gamabunta grunted.

"Right!"

Suddenly the pale length of Boss' tongue wrapped around her protectively, completely enclosing her. Narumi sighed in relief. After a moment, Boss withdrew his tongue, and she glared up at Gaara.

The irate looking Suna-nin scowled at her.

"I will kill you! I won't allow my existence to disappear!"

Agitation rose in her chest, and she gritted her teeth. She couldn't let this continue any longer. She'd already used up most of her chakra. So like it or not, she'd be calling on the Kyuubi again.

Reaching deep, she felt around for, and seized, the burning crimson chakra that lurked in her abdomen. As fiery chakra blazed through her coils, the seal on her stomach surfaced, it's black swirls stark against her tanned skin, clearly visible through the ripped fabric of her shirt.

Chakra surged through her, erupting violently from the pores of her skin into a visible blaze around her. She cried out, focusing on controling it as the force of it ripped her hitae-ate from her head.

Her hair swirled and snapped, fluttering across her face as she met Gaara's eyes, yanking her feet effortlessly from where the pseudo-flesh of the beast had gripped them.

"Bring it on! I can handle anything you throw at me, ya damn tanuki!"

Surging forward, she cocked back a fist. Gaara shouted wordlessly, sand surging to wrap around her just as she reached him. Straining against the sand curling around her arms, she cursed.

With a savage jerk, she brought her knee up, jamming it hard into his stomach, and forcing the breath out of him. At the same time, her head shot forward, slamming their foreheads together hard enough to split the skin.

Gaara froze, eyes wide. The two of them stared at each other, warm blood mixing between the identical wounds on their foreheads, before trickling down their faces. Narumi's hair fluttered gently around them, enclosing them in a golden veil.

Cracks spider-webbed out from where Gaara was half buried in the thing's head, the flesh losing its color and returning to ordinary sand as the enormous figure began to crumble and disintegrate.

The sand coiled around her body spilt away, and she brought a hand up shakily to grasp Gaara's shoulder as the footing beneath them became unstable. The sand crumbled away, crashing down to the ground, and then she was falling.

She kept her grip on Gaara's shoulder as the two of them tumbled limply through the air, eyes only half open, exhaustion making itself known as her body begged her to just rest for a moment.

Somewhere off to the side, she heard Gamabunta's tired voice boom out.

"Gamakichi! We're heading home now."

A much smaller voice answered cheerfully, as undisturbed as ever.

"Right Pops!"

With an explosion of smoke, the two toads vanished. The shockwave caused by displaced air rushing into the sudden vacuum left behind by the enormous toad vanishing knocked both young ninja into the leafy foliage of a nearby tree that was sill undamaged by the battle that had been raging.

Narumi was forced to let go of Gaara as the two of them crashed down through the tree, bouncing off branches as they fell, before slamming into the ground. She gave a choking gasp, starbursts of pain spreading across her body.

After a long moment, she managed to crack her eyes open, and with great effort, pushed herself slowly to her hands and knees. Twisting her head to the side, she caught sight of Gaara.

He'd forced himself to his feet, vague eyes still focused on her, entire body trembling as he heaved for breath.

"Not...not yet...I'm not done...yet!"

She sobbed for breath, and with the last of her willpower, heaved herself to her feet. Her legs trembled beneath her, and her limbs felt as heavy as lead. Her chakra coils were nearly dry, carrying only the bare amount necessary to keep her alive. She had nothing left.

Nevertheless, she turned to face Gaara. The Suna-nin shuffled towards her, blood running down the sides of his nose from where she'd split his forehead. Slowly, as he came closer, he launched himself into a stumbling run, half lifting his fist as if to hit her.

She watched him come, eyes tired. At the last moment, she flung herself to the side, allowing his clumsy punch to fly by her shoulder. Flinging her arms open, she caught the boy, wrapping him in a clumsy, exhausted hug.

Gaara froze, apparently stunned. A small, genuine smile curled across her lips. After a moment, he spoke up, voice rough.

"Why? Why are you...smiling?"

She sighed, glad that she didn't have to fight anymore. She hated to admit it, but she was fresh out of strength. An academy student could probably off her right now, and she wouldn't even care.

"Hm? Oh. Well, I guess it was because I was able to protect both. Konoha, and you."

Gaara stiffened, and she chuckled slightly, tired giddiness flooding her brain.

"Your not a bad guy, you know? I really...want to be your friend."

Gaara growled weakly at her.

"I will not allow my existence to dissapear!"

She laughed outright at that, loosening her hold on him, and stumbling backwards until her back hit the trunk of the tree they'd fallen out of. Sliding down it, she tugged him down beside her, pulling his head down into her lap.

"Don't be silly. Of course you won't disappear. You're right here aren't you? As long as we have our friends, our comrades, our existence can never be erased."

Leaning forward, she smiled brightly down at the wide-eyed boy.

"You're my friend now, because I said so. That means you can't be erased anymore."

Leaning back, she idly wondered where her hitae-ate had gone. Remembering what Gamabunta had said about Shukaku's hosts not sleeping well, she stroked Gaara's hair gently. It was something Ikyue-sensei used to do for her, and she remembered how warm and comforting it always felt.

Gaara's voice floated up to her, small and uncertain.

"How do you know?"

She let her eyes slide closed, leaning her head back against the trunk of the tree.

"You said it yourself. You and I, we're the same. I remember how much it hurts. To be alone, I mean. To not be...wanted. And I know because I found nakama, and now I can't be forgotten anymore. I'm stronger because I want to protect them."

The red-haired boy seemed to relax at her words, eyes sliding slowly closed. She felt him drifting off, and murmured quietly to him.

"Sleep, Gaara. Everything will be alright now...'ttebayo..."

She never noticed when she fell asleep.

* * *

><p>Teruyoshi blearily opened his eyes to his shoulder being shaken. Kankuro stood beside him, looking battered and worn.<p>

"Aniki! Aniki, wake up!"

Teruyoshi groaned, lifting a hand to shove his hair back. Then his eyes shot open, and he started to his feet, alarm running through him.

"Gaara! Where are Gaara and the girl?"

Kankuro jerked his head to the side, looking uneasy and concerned.

"Over that way somewhere. There was some kind of huge battle but...I think Gaara lost."

Teruyoshi stared wide-eyed at his brother. Gaara, lose? He'd never contemplated such a possibility. Fear washed through him. What on earth had happened to his little brother?

Kankuro stood up, eyes still on Teruyoshi.

"We'd better hurry. There's a couple of Konoha-nin coming. They're nearly here."

Teruyoshi nodded sharply, and steadied himself, leaping off in the direction Kankuro had indicated. Eventually, they broke out of the trees and into a clearing surrounded by smashed trunks of felled forest giants.

He stared blankly, shocked at the scene before him. Beside him, Kankuro was in a similar state. They both gaped.

The girl was sitting against a tree, head thrown back, face tilted up to the sun, golden hair loose and spilling around her shoulders and face. Her eyes were closed, and she was smiling softly in her sleep. Trails of blood were crusted from the center of her forehead down over her nose, and along one side of her face.

Her knuckles were torn and bloody, her clothes slashed, body battered, generally looking like she'd been through a painful battle. That wasn't the shocking bit though. One small, tanned hand was resting on Gaara's head, long fingers laying gently across the red strands of his hair.

Their younger brother lay with his head in her lap, as battered as the kunoichi. An identical wound on his forehead spilled blood across his face, but he was relaxed. Asleep. Teruyoshi felt his mouth slide open.

The frozen moment of awe was broken by two Konoha genin landing behind them. Both the Suna-nin whipped around to face them, bodies tense.

It was the girls teammates, both apparently as surprised as the brothers, eyes flickering from their wounded teammate to the older boys between them and her. Teruyoshi tensed, preparing to attack.

Gaara's soft, weary voice came from behind him, and the blonde's head snapped around to focus on his brother. Pale, dark rimmed eyes had slid open to look at his brothers, though he hadn't otherwise moved from his sprawl.

"Don't fight them...it's enough already..."

The four new arrivals remained tense for a moment, staring at each other. Teruyoshi was on edge. He'd never seen his brother like this before. So weakened, and _sleeping_ of all things. Gaara never slept. What exactly had gone on while he'd been out?

Warily, he moved back slightly and spoke to the black-clad boy beside him.

"Kankuro, get Gaara. We're leaving."

Kankuro nodded and dropped back behind Teruyoshi, who remained in his defensive position between his brothers and the new threat. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kankuro drop to one knee beside the two younger ninja and reach out.

The rose haired shinobi across from Teruyoshi growled, green eyes flashing warningly. The Uchiha narrowed his eyes and thinned his lips. Both boys looked caught between attacking and waiting for the Suna-nin to clear the area around their injured teammate.

Behind him Kankuro gasped, drawing the eyes of all three to him. Gaara had reached up and caught his hand before he could touch the girl. With a very tired gesture of his other arm, he reached up and wrapped his hand almost gingerly around her fingers, lifting her hand carefully from his hair.

Only after he'd resettled her hand on the ground beside her did he release Kankuro's wrist. Looking confused, Kankuro slid one arm under the boys waist, and pulled Gaara's arm over his shoulders, lifting his younger brother with him as he stood.

Once Teruyoshi was sure they were ready, he nodded curtly to the two shinobi, casting one lingering glance at the sleeping girl behind him. Intense relief suddenly flooded through him as he realized that she'd survived the attack. She'd gone head to head with Gaara, and come out alive.

Relaxing slightly, he motioned to Kankuro, and the two of them leapt away into the trees. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Konoha shinobi move swiftly towards their teammate as soon as he and his brothers were out of the way. Both looked quite agitated.

Shrugging, he turned away, focusing on guarding his more vulnerable brothers from any possible attack as the three of them moved through the dense foliage of the forest. Gaara's eyes were half open, and something about him seemed...softer...almost tentative.

When he spoke, his voice was very quiet.

"Teruyoshi...Kankuro..."

Both siblings turned their faces towards him instantly.

"...I'm sorry."

Teruyoshi's eyes widened, and his breath caught in surprise. Kankuro stared at his little brother, and then looked up at Teruyoshi, bewilderment and concern warring for dominance in his expression.

After a minute, Kankuro stuttered out an uncertain reply.

"D-don't worry about it."

Teruyoshi nodded slightly, turning his eyes ahead.

"It's nothing, Gaara."

As the three of them moved more swiftly back to the safety of the rendezvous point, he wondered if Gaara would answer if he asked him what had happened while he'd been unconscious.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Hello guys. First update of the summer! I kinda went a little crazy with this one.

Reviews! I thanks you all for them!  
>First, to Zelga Lim Li, there will be romance, I promise. I can tell you it's definitely someone she's already met, and it's a pretty unusual pairing. Hope you enjoy the developments to come!<br>To FraulineTraumer, I'm glad to hear you like the story! I do try my best with the characters, so it always warms me to hear some say I've done a good job with them.  
>To Bored and Sleep with Waffles, perhaps you have a point about the explanations. I'd hate to develop them into a crutch and neglect the actual interactions within the story. But I have gotten positive feedback as well...so here's my thought. I'll see if I can't get a poll up, and then let you guys vote. Majority rules on this matter. As a test run, I'll leave this chapter without notes. Always happy to hear from you, please continue to enjoy the story (^_^).<br>To firehottie, I hope you enjoyed the final exam. I'm afraid I cut it a bit short, and focused more heavily on the invasion, but I did my best not to keep it from being boring.  
>To ChaosIdeals, it's lovely to hear from you, and I hope you continue to enjoy the story.<br>To Zandamh, I'm sorry the Narumi-Gaara scenes were disappointing for you. The idea was that as a girl, Narumi's protective instincts would skyrocket when faced with someone attacking an injured comrade, particularly since she could sense the Bijuu inside Gaara, which experience tells her is VERY dangerous. Also, she's still a twelve year old. However, I've done my best to develop the interaction between them a little more clearly in this chapter, so I hope that this time it's satisfactory.  
>To Mirajane Ryuu-Hitsugaya, yep, I gender-swapped Neji. Sorry about that, but I was just itching to try it, since Hirohito was switched to a boy. Besides that, I did try gender-swapping Lee...bad idea, horribly bad idea. Afraid I can't pull that one off, and believe me I tried. It was just wrong. So, Neji it was. Hope you can still have fun with him anyway.<br>To Sanao Mikaru, lovely to hear from you and hope you continue to enjoy the story.

**In case you guys missed it, as I've gotten both positive and negative feedback on them, I'll be holding a poll about the explanatory authors notes at the end. Please let me know if you'd prefer me to keep them or leave them out. I leave the decision on this one in you guys hands!**

As always, please do read and review!


	14. Akatsuki

Kakashi flashed through the trees, following Pakkun with all the speed his tired legs could muster. Not since the end of the Third Great Shinobi War had he participated in such a large scale battle, and his body was intent on reminding him that even he was limited. His mind, however, still thrummed with tense energy, old instinct surging to the surface as he flicked his eyes over the surrounding greenery for enemies.

The Oto-nin and Suna-nin had been quite determined to keep him and the other jounin present from leaving the stadium, much to his agitation. He'd thought his heart would stop when Narumi ran off after the fleeing Suna-nin. Something about that Gaara kid put him very much on edge, and he truly didn't want the girl anywhere near him.

He'd been unable to follow her, and had thrown all his energy and frustration into the task of eliminating the thrice-damned shinobi who dared invade his home. After plowing through the greater portion of the enemy, he'd seen Gai's boy, Tenma.

The genin were apparently much less of a concern to the enemy, because the boy was able to slip by them with only slightly more trouble than Narumi, before making his way over to a section of the stands being held mostly by genin, including his other two students.

The silver-haired jounin hadn't thought much of it, until he'd spotted two familiar heads, one rose colored, the other blue-black, vanishing over the wall of the stadium in the direction Narumi had gone.

He still couldn't decide if what he'd felt had been horror at his other students placing themselves in danger as well, or relief that at least the girl would have some backup in whatever hare-brained scheme she was attempting.

Kakashi had redoubled his efforts, and once he'd helped wipe out the Oto-nin present, he'd spared only a moment to alert Gai to his intent before summoning Pakkun. After the mission to Nami no Kuni, he'd quietly acquired scent samples of all his students, just in case.

Now that he needed to track the wayward genin, he was insanely grateful he had. After Pakkun had caught their scent, he and Kakashi had headed out at the fastest pace the little dog could manage. Kakashi fairly vibrated with urgency, hoping that his students were alright.

He had no idea what he'd do if anything happened to them. Particularly Narumi. He'd already failed Minato-sensei once, when the man had died in the battle against the Kyuubi. He couldn't stand the idea of failing him a second time by allowing something to happen to his daughter.

He'd been completely focused on following Pakkun, so it wasn't until he heard the hissing rumble from up ahead that he looked up. His dark eye widened in shock. Up ahead was the familiar, enormous, dull orange figure of Gamabunta. His sensei's summon, the very one he'd ridden out to his last battle on.

Kakashi hadn't seen the great toad since then, the image of his sensei's proudly straight back and fluttering white coat superimposed on the top of the creatures head as his sharingan eye opened, overlapping the past image with the present reality.

The silver-haired jounin nearly missed his footing, the hesitation in his stride speaking volumes as he stared speechlessly up at the not too distant toad.

'_How...who the hell could have summoned him? Jiraya-sama isn't anywhere near the village as far as I know!'_

Before he could really process what he was seeing, the summon disappeared in a blast of displaced air and white smoke. Shaking himself, he glanced back down at the equally surprised Pakkun.

"How long?"

The little dog looked back over his shoulder at his summoner, expression as deceptively laconic as ever.

"Maybe twenty minutes. Smells like the girl's up around where the toad was. The boys are a lot closer to her, but they seem to be engaging another group."

Kakashi narrowed his eye, increasing the levels of chakra in his legs and feet just slightly. Pakkun huffed slightly, stretching his legs a little further as he tried to accommodate Kakashi's desire for speed.

"Don't worry so much. I don't smell either of their blood."

Kakashi just grunted, eyes focused on the trees ahead. Pakkun sighed, but didn't speak again, focusing on the scent trail they were following. They were about twelve minutes out when Kakashi heard a weak murmur somewhere beneath him.

Instantly stopping, he sent out a chakra probe. He hated to lose time when he was so close to his goal, but he couldn't take the chance of bypassing an injured comrade. There, just below him, he found a weakened chakra signature, still young, not fully developed.

To his surprise, that signature was overlaid with thousands of minuscule dots of chakra, teeming and swirling in a very precise pattern. Those signals told him that the shinobi beneath him was an Aburame, and he could be quite confident that no genjutsu were involved.

The only foreign shinobi who thought to replicate the signatures of the insects were true masters of the art, and even then, they never could quite duplicate the pattern of the nests residing within the bodies of the Aburame.

Furrowing his brow, he signaled Pakkun to wait for him, and dropped a few branches down. After a moment, he spotted her. Shinako, one of the genin who had made it to the third exam, but hadn't had a chance to fight. He wondered what she was doing here, sprawled across a wide branch almost bonelessly.

Springing over to kneel beside her, he rested a hand reassuringly on her shoulder, voice low and firm.

"Easy, Kid."

She shifted a little, attention shifting to him as she spoke. Her voice was impressively calm, showing the rational, logical mindset that seemed to be a genetic trait in her clan, despite her obviously weakened state.

"There was...a Suna-nin. I...beat him but...got poisoned. He ran off..."

Kakashi nodded once, his grip on her shoulder tightening approvingly.

"Well done."

Poisons were not Kakashi's area of expertise. There was not much he could do for her, which meant that he had two options. The first being to take her back to the hospital for medical attention, which would mean a huge delay in locating his own errant genin. The other option was to scan the surroundings for friendly or identifiable chakra signatures, and flare his own chakra to draw them in, leaving the girl in their care.

Closing his eyes, he swept the surrounding forest, mentally chanting a request for someone else to be present. While he would never shirk his duty to any comrade, Kakashi was not above playing favorites, and given the choice, he'd much rather go to his students.

To his relief, he almost instantly found the signature of another Aburame heading in their direction. This one was mature, and he allowed himself a small sigh. Who better to hand the genin over to than her own clan. Flaring his chakra sharply, he felt the other shinobi veer towards him, homing in on their location.

Straightening, he murmured encouragingly to the prone figure at his feet, eye curving shut in a reassuring smile.

"Maa, it looks like someones already on their way to get you."

It wasn't more than a few moments before a man with spiky hair, glasses, and a high-collared coat alighted on the branch beside the girl, reaching out to lay one hand on her hair. The girl relaxed under his touch, sighing quietly.

"Papa..."

The head of the Aburame clan tilted his face up to Kakashi and nodded once, voice stoic as ever.

"Thank you for watching over my daughter, Hatake-san."

Kakashi returned the nod, voice deceptively laid-back.

"Don't mention it, Shibi-sama. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have business to attend to."

Satisfied that he'd been more than courteous given the circumstances, Kakashi returned to the higher branches of the canopy and nodded to Pakkun. The two of them set out again, Pakkun sniffing several times at the air.

"Oi, Kakashi. Smells like those boys of yours have caught up with the girl."

Kakashi felt some of the tension drain from the rigid set of his shoulders, grunting an acknowledgment at Pakkun. He'd taught them well, so if the three of them were together, he was sure they'd be able to hold out until he got to them.

Not long after that, they approached a section of forest that had suffered heavy damage. Gouges littered the earth, and swathes of trees had been torn up by the roots, others crushed and felled where they stood. Sections of the forest were dripping with water, while others were as dry as the rest of the forest.

Kakashi eyed the destruction warily. He knew the signs of battle, and this looked like it had been left behind by a fairly intense one. Before he could ponder further on the possible meaning of that, Pakkun barked out sharply.

"There they are."

Snapping his attention back to Pakkun, he followed the little dog down into a mostly untouched clearing. The boys were crouched one either side of Narumi, both looking uncertain as to how to proceed.

The girl herself looked as if she'd been through a difficult battle, but appeared largely unharmed. Rather than being unconcious, she simply seemed to be sleeping deeply. Above her, her other teammates were arguing softly.

Saburo was waving his arms emphatically, scowling up at the other boy from where he crouched, while Sasuke had folded his arms across his chest and was regarding the rosette coolly. Kakashi nearly sagged in relief as he and Pakkun approached the little group.

"...and I'm telling you, we can't move her without being sure!"

Sasuke snorted, opened his mouth to reply, and then nudged Saburo with his toe. The other genin followed his teammates glance, and then lit up.

"Kakashi-sensei!"

The silver-haired jounin carefully masked the concern that had been racing through his veins as he sauntered up to his students. It wouldn't do to let them see how worried he'd been. Because wether he liked it or not, the fact was that they had preformed their duty as ninja of Konoha admirably under extremely difficult circumstances. It wouldn't do for them to think he was less than proud of them for that.

So he greeted them casually, mentally promising himself to have a talk with Narumi about going off on her own at some point in the future.

"Yo."

Coming up beside the small gathering, he crouched down, frowning slightly as he looked over his most exuberant student. Pakkun trotted up beside him, eyeing the girl curiously.

"Looks like she's one tough pup."

Silently Kakashi agreed. Battered and bruised, chakra signature drained beyond anything he'd ever felt from her, and she was still smiling. He shook his head slightly. She took after her parents more strongly than most of the village would care to admit.

Beside him, Saburo was hovering anxiously, jade eyes flickering back and forth between his sensei and his teammate as he babbled.

"She looks pretty beat up sensei. That's why I was telling Sasuke, we shouldn't move her 'cause she might have hurt her spine or something, and that would be bad right? But he says she'd be fine and we should get her back to the hospital. I don't know though, because when we got here the team from Suna-"

Sasuke broke in, voice sharp, eyes hard and indignant as he argued his point.

"That's exactly _why_ we should hurry up and take her! Who knows what they might have done before we got here? She could be poisoned or-"

Kakashi rolled his eyes and spoke in a firm tone to the both of them.

"Both of you calm down. As far as I can tell, she's just tired. Maybe suffering from a case of moderate chakra exhaustion."

Leaning forward, he gently scooped the slight frame of the girl into his arms, standing easily. The child in his arms wrinkled her nose slightly, and shifted a bit before settling back into slumber.

Throwing a glance at Pakkun, he voiced something that had been bothering him. Narumi's hitae-ate was missing from it's place around her forehead. He knew how dear it was to her, just from the lengths she'd gone to to retrieve it from Zabuza.

"Pakkun, would you see if you can find her hitae-ate?"

The dog nodded, trotting off into the surrounding forest.

"Sure thing, Kakashi. Just give me a minute."

Saburo finally seemed to register what was going on, whipping his head around to stare wide-eyed at the retreating form of Pakkun, and choking out in a startled voice.

"A talking...dog?"

Kakashi ignored the implicit question, fixing both boys with a level stare.

"Report."

Saburo was still muttering to himself about talking dogs, but Sasuke cleared his throat and straightened slightly. The boy looked tired, even more so than he had during his chidori training. But that was only to be expected after his first large-scale engagement.

"Saburo and I were engaging the Oto-nin on the west side of the stadium along with four other genin, including Nobuye Hyuuga, and Shika Nara. Tenma arrived to aid us, and informed us that Narumi was pursuing the genin team from Suna."

Glancing at Saburo, he continued more tentatively.

"We decided to provide back-up, and followed her out. On the way we ended up engaging a group of Oto-nin, and were delayed. By the time we caught up to her, she was like this."

Saburo shook his head a bit, frowning, his cheeks nearly as bright a pink as his hair.

"Sensei...when we got here, two of the Suna genin were standing over her and Gaara..."

He blushed and stuttered, evidently beyond embarrassed on behalf of his female teammate.

"H-he was sleeping in her lap."

Kakashi lifted an eyebrow at the boys, but before he could reply, Pakkun was trotting back up to him, Narumi's hitae-ate held delicately between his teeth. Nodding his thanks to the small summon, Kakashi crouched a bit, and took the limp cloth from his mouth.

Laying it on her chest, he wrapped one of her hands gently around the metal plate. Narumi shifted again, and clenched her tightly, instinctively tucking it against her chest. Shaking his head, Kakashi allowed a small smile to curl at his lips. So much like her parents. All her fathers promise and loyalty combined with her mothers vivaciousness.

Turning his attention back to the boys, he allowed his eye to slide closed in a proud smile.

"You've both done well. By now, stage three of the protocol for enemy attack on the village has likely been completed. We should head back."

As he turned and sprang into the trees, heading back towards the village at a much slower pace, the two boys followed him closely. Saburo came up beside him, looking curious.

"Sensei, what protocol are you talking about?"

Kakashi glanced over at the boy, voice much more relaxed now that he had all three of his students in his sight.

"In the event that the village is attacked, there is a three stage plan in place. The first stage is to repel the enemy. If that fails, and they infiltrate the village, we proceed immediately to stage two. In stage two, we focus all our efforts on evacuating women, children, and civilians to designated safe areas around the village."

Shifting his eyes back to the front, Kakashi was amused to note that while Sasuke was trying not to show it, the Uchiha was also intent on what he was saying.

"After stage two is complete, we proceed to stage three. In stage three, the full force of Konoha converges on and eliminates the enemy units."

Saburo's eyes widened slightly, and he breathed out a single, awed word.

"Counterattack!"

Kakashi nodded. Saburo looked impressed. Sasuke spoke up, voice somewhat disgruntled, even aghast.

"It's over? We've missed it?"

The boy's brows were drawn tightly together, and his fists were clenched, eyes flashing. Kakashi blinked in surprise. Well. Most young shinobi would be disappointed if they felt they'd been left out of such a grand sounding venture. However, Sasuke's reaction seemed more frustrated than disappointed.

Kakashi shrugged one shoulder, frowning slightly beneath the mask.

"No, I wouldn't say that. True, by now the enemy should be dead or fleeing, but it isn't as if you three haven't played a part."

Sasuke snorted, the sound a trifle bitter. Saburo was watching his teammate with confusion, and concern. The rosette was definitely less battle hungry than either of his other teammates, and Kakashi silently thanked the kami for that. He wasn't sure how he'd handle three recklessly aggressive students.

"Played a part? We hardly did anything!"

Kakashi glanced sharply at his dark haired student, voice serious.

"That's not true, Sasuke."

When the boy opened his mouth to protest, Kakashi spoke over him firmly.

"No, listen to me. Both you and Saburo were part of a small force that defended one entire section of the stands at the stadium, were you not?"

Reluctantly, the boy nodded, jaw locked and eyes sparking.

"And when you heard that your teammate had left the area, you went to back her up?"

Another nod.

"Did you, or did you not, engage a group of Oto-nin on your own, without aid, in order to reach said teammate?"

Slowly, the Uchiha's expression began to lighten as Saburo piped up helpfully.

"That's right, Sensei. You should have seen Sasuke! He was amazing!"

Kakashi inclined his head, expression still grave.

"Finally, did you defend your teammate from the possible threat of yet more enemy shinobi when you found her wounded and unconscious?"

Not waiting for a reply, he gave the boys a small smile.

"Sasuke, do you know what genin are usually tasked with in case of an attack such as this?"

Uncertain, the boy shook his head. Kakashi rolled his eyes inwardly. Young shinobi, particularly the geniuses, were always comparing themselves to the older shinobi they saw around them, without ever stopping to think about how their age affected their duties.

"Officially, in such an event, genin are assigned to help evacuate and guard the non-combatants. In practice, genin can be called on to fight, as you two were at the stadium, but overall, they are not to engage the enemy."

When both boys stared at him, he chuckled slightly.

"The three of you preformed extraordinarily well, given the circumstances. Far better than I would have expected."

Soothed, Sasuke lifted his chin, eyes shining with pride, a small smirk curling across his face. Saburo's shoulders squared, and he grinned widely.

"Hah! Inori's gonna have a fit!"

Shaking his head, Kakashi allowed himself another low chuckle as they approached the place where Shibi was lifting his daughter onto his back. Dropping beside the man, he offered him a small smile.

"Shibi-sama. How is she?"

The two boys had come to a stop a few branches back, watching curiously. Shibi looked back at his daughter, who spoke quietly for herself.

"I am well, Hatake-sensei. Thank you for your concern."

Saburo frowned, scrambling forward to examine the limp girl.

"Shinako-chan? What happened? Are you alright?"

The boys voice rose slightly, anxiety creeping into his tone as he scanned the Aburame. Her father answered for her, voice soft and calm.

"She faced a Suna-nin, and was infected by poison. Not to worry, my kikaichu have removed it from her body."

The rosette looked confused, glancing back and forth between Kakashi, Shibi, and the boneless form draped across the clan heads back.

"Why didn't your back-up take you to the hospital already?"

Shibi's tone didn't change, but Kakashi had fought alongside enough Aburame to hear the question in his voice when he answered.

"I am unaware of the reason for such neglect, Haruno-kun. I have not yet had the chance to question my daughter as to such matters."

Kakashi cleared his throat slightly.

"Both the girls need to be taken to the hospital. Perhaps we could discuss this as we return?"

Sasuke snorted as his teammate reddened slightly. The clan head nodded gravely, and the enlarged group continued back in the direction of the village. Kakashi could sense the receding presence of what had to be enemy ninja, but none came near them.

Saburo and Sasuke watched Shinako expectantly, though they remained in formation near Kakashi, obviously devoting the greater part of their concern to their own teammate. When Shibi turned his head very slightly, Shinako quietly explained her presence.

"I was the back-up. I followed Narumi-chan on my own. When I caught up with her, she was facing the puppeteer from the exams. He seemed intent on stopping her from reaching her quarry."

She fell silent for a moment before continuing, and Kakashi imagined that if her eyes had not been hidden by the traditional dark glasses of her clan, he would have seen her eyes drooping slightly. Her chakra signature definitely showed signs of physical exhaustion, though that was probably more from her body trying to recover from the poison than actual battle fatigue.

"I decided that if the enemy didn't want Narumi to reach the genin she was chasing, that it would be wise to give her the greatest possible chance to apprehend him. So I told her to go on, while I faced the current opponent."

Shinako's youth showed in the tinge of shame that colored her words, face tilting slightly towards Narumi's still form.

"I had intended to continue after her, but I was careless and was unable to follow her after the battle ended. I see that my actions had unpleasant consequences."

She was silent for a moment, and Kakashi understood the implied question and the darker girls distress, though from the looks on the boys faces, they hadn't a clue what she was trying to say.

"Not to worry, Shinako-chan. Narumi's fine, just a bit tired. Given a few days, she'll be right as rain."

The kunoichi relaxed slowly with a barely audible sigh, before falling into a light doze on her fathers back. Kakashi exchanged a look with Shibi, both of them emanating undertones of amusement and affection. Kids.

Sasuke rolled his eyes behind them, muttering about female foolishness under his breath, while Saburo fixed oddly intent eyes on Shinako's back. Kakashi sighed as they approached the village gates.

When they reached the gates, they alighted on the path, the last of the tension ebbing from both the jounin's shoulders as they approached the two desolate looking chuunin guards. Now that they'd reached the village, they could relax and entrust the possibility of threats to shinobi without genin to care for.

Kakashi strode up to the two guards, nodding to them briskly.

"Special Jounin, Hatake Kakashi, and Special Jounin, Shibi Aburame, with genin's Saburo Haruno, Narumi Uzumaki, Uchiha Sasuke, and Shinako Aburame, reporting in with two injured."

The chuunin's eyes flicked over them quickly, and one spoke, his voice sharp.

"The genin? Are the injuries serious?"

Kakashi blinked at the urgency of the mans voice, and shook his head.

"Not as far as we know."

Both chuunin's slumped in relief, the older one allowing his eyes to slide closed and muttering under his breath.

"Thank the kami."

Kakashi and Shibi glanced at each other, tensing. The silver-haired jounin was vaguely aware of his two students drawing slightly closer to him, Sasuke eyeing the two guards suspiciously, while Saburo looked concerned.

"What's wrong?"

The older chuunin opened his eyes and looked at them blankly for a moment.

"You don't know?"

Kakashi shook his head uneasily, forcing himself to be patient as he questioned the lower ranked shinobi firmly.

"Report?"

The chuunin both shook their heads slowly, the appointed spokesman sounding incredibly weary and lost.

"Sandaime Hokage-sama was killed in the battle, facing Orochimaru."

Kakashi's eyes widened in shock, and he swore viciously, arms tightening instinctively around his blonde student. He was suddenly, uncomfortably intensely, reminded that the last time he had been informed that the Hokage had fallen in battle, it had been Minato-sensei they'd spoken of.

"That thrice-damned, traitorous, _bastard_ of a snake!"

Kakashi rarely voiced his more intense reactions to things aloud. It wasn't good form for a shinobi of his standing and reputation to be easily provoked or riled. However, such an occasion as this called for verbal acknowledgment.

The chuunin nodded grimly, and Shibi's rigid posture and frosty silence spoke volumes. The genin were all staring in a stunned silence. They'd grown up with Sandaime-sama, and didn't know what to make of this news.

The older guard motioned to the two girls.

"Sorry. But seeing kids coming in hurt after that..."

He shook his head, eyes hard and voice grave.

"...it's hard to take."

Kakashi nodded silently. Konoha expected a lot from it's young ninja, but it was also a village that was fiercely protective of it's young.

Bypassing the gate, he leapt through the village, taking in the damage as he went. Fortunately, he didn't see many bodies, and spotted only a few shinobi carrying the solid black scrolls with the red symbol of the leaf that indicated they contained the bodies of Konoha's fallen.

The destruction, however, ranged far across the village. Buildings had been smashed, set alight by stray katon jutsu, flooded by suiton jutsu, and sliced by fuuton jutsu. While some parts of the village - including, thankfully, the hospital - had been spared, large tracts of the village had suffered immense damage.

When Kakashi reached the hospital, he found it bustling with no-nonsense iryo-nin tending to the wounded. All were grim-faced, and the occasional, telling glance would be thrown up towards the now-cracked stone face of the Sandaime.

The boys and Shibi followed him, the genin uneasy, and Shibi as grimly practical as the other shinobi who had managed to survive the last great war. An iryo-nin approached them assessing the girls condition, and then showing them to a small room on the third floor.

After seeing to it that both jounin laid their burdens carefully out on the beds, the female iryo-nin shooed them out, assuring them that they'd be contacted in due time. Her voice was crisp and collected as she addressed them.

"Hatake-san, Aburame-sama. If you would report to Jounin Commander Nara, I will put the genin to work."

Glancing over his two students, Kakashi watched as they looked around themselves, managing to look both nervous and determined. He summoned up a weary smile for them, ruffling both their hair affectionately.

Sasuke scowled and ducked out from under his hand, while Sasuke batted his hand away in embarrassment. He chuckled quietly.

"I'll see you two later, alright?"

They exchanged glances, and then nodded to him, Sasuke speaking up in a proud, firm voice that could have come straight from his father, Fugaku.

"Don't worry, Kakashi-sensei. We'll keep an eye on Narumi."

Saburo elbowed him hard in the ribs, and the Uchiha grunted slightly, glaring at his teammate before adding in as an afterthought.

"And Shinako."

Kakashi gave them another smile, this one less tired and more amused. With a nod of acknowledgment, he turned and walked over to where Shibi stood waiting for him at a nearby open window.

Quickly, the two of them leapt through the open frame, and started heading to the Hokage tower. Kakashi wearily shook his head.

'_It's going to be a very long week.'_

* * *

><p>Narumi sat up in the hospital bed, chattering to her teammates. Sasuke leaned on the foot of the bed, arms folded over the metal railing as he listened. Saburo sat perched on the side of the bed, wide jade eyes fixed on her as she gestured wildly.<p>

The moment she'd woken up in the hospital, they'd been there, scolding her furiously for running off on her own. Saburo's furious demands that she use her head, combined with Sasuke's cutting remarks had combined into a joint scolding that left her a bit wilted and feeling guiltily apologetic.

After they'd extracted several promises to at least try to 'use the thing between her ears', they'd eagerly demanded that she tell them exactly what had happened with the genin from Suna.

So here she was, drawing to the end of her retelling with a shrug.

"...and the next thing I knew, I was waking up here. That's about it really."

Both boys stared at her. Saburo's eyes were wide as he stared at her, while Sasuke's brows were tightly furrowed, and his head was cocked slightly to the side. She stared back at them, finally settling on her standard response to such a situation.

"Oi, teme! What're ya lookin' at me like that for?"

Sasuke's frown deepened, and in a nonplussed tone, he spoke very slowly, as if unsure he had heard right.

"You...hugged Gaara...?"

She nodded warily. Sasuke frowned intently at her, mouth slightly open as if searching for words. She glared at him suspiciously.

"Spit it out, teme!"

After a bit more struggling, he finally spluttered.

"You're such...such a GIRL!"

Saburo snorted and turned his face away, covering his mouth with his hand as Narumi immediately surged forward, scowling and snatching up her pillow. Hurling the fluffy missile at her teammate with all her strength, she growled indignantly at him.

"I _am_ a girl, 'ttebayo!"

Sasuke dodged the pillow, still eyeing her with that strange expression, though a smirk had begun to tilt the corners of his mouth up.

"You'd never know from the way you usually act."

Narumi leapt to her feet on top of the bed with a roar, and lunged for Sasuke's throat. The Uchiha darted backwards, and Saburo tackled her before she could reach their dark-haired teammate, struggling to keep a grip on her as she scrambled for freedom...and Sasuke's very vulnerable looking jugular.

Exasperated with the two of them, Saburo tried to calm the thrashing blonde.

"Narumi-chan! Narumi-chan, calm down!"

When the growling girl was finally soothed enough that she merely glared murderously from the bed at the Uchiha, and Sasuke was reinstated leaning against the foot of the bed with his usual smirk, Narumi turned to the rosette.

"So, what happened back at the village? How is everybody?"

Both boys went very still, exchanging an unhappy glance. Narumi frowned at them, suddenly feeling uneasy.

"Guys? What's wrong? Is Kakashi-sensei okay?"

Saburo hastily nodded, hands held out soothingly.

"Of course! Sensei's just fine, Narumi! The village took a lot of damage during the attack but rebuilding has already begun so everything is-"

Even more alarmed at Saburo's nervous babbling, Narumi's blue eyes raced back and forth between her teammates. Sasuke took pity on her, dark eyes tentative and uncertain as he interrupted Saburo.

"It's the Hokage, Narumi. Sandaime-sama was killed in the attack."

The Uzumaki went very still, eyes wide and fixed on Sasuke's face. Her voice was odd as she stared at him.

"Jiji? He's..."

Sasuke nodded, and she felt like she'd been hit over the head. Sasuke was still talking to her, but his voice sounded oddly stretched and thin.

"The funeral is in two days time. Saburo and I will go with you."

The rosette nodded vigorously at her, and she swallowed hard, forcing herself to speak.

"Th-thanks. I...I'm kind of tired now, so..."

Sasuke nodded quietly, though both he and Saburo looked a bit concerned.

"Go to sleep, Narumi. We'll just stay a bit longer."

She nodded faintly and lay back down, turning on her side and pulling the covers over her head. Staring at the white blanket draped over her face, she simply lay there for a long time.

It wasn't until she realized that the boys scents were still in the room, still marking their watchful presence, that she was able to relax enough to fall asleep.

'_It'll be alright. I'll just...just rest for a bit.'_

* * *

><p>Saburo leaned back on the fence, staring quietly across at his female teammate. Narumi was different today. Instead of her usual orange outfit, she wore the standard issue mourning for kunoichi.<p>

A long-sleeved black dress that reached halfway down her thighs, along with black combat sandals. The girls hair was bound back in a tight, complex braid with a black tie, but her bangs had been left free to fall over her face, and her hitae-ate was tied loosely around her waist.

The day was overcast, and the wan light that seeped through the clouds added to the strange seriousness she exuded, washing her golden hair out to a shade of electrum, and deepening the shade of her eyes to a stormy blue.

Her injuries had long since healed, but rather than bouncing around cheerfully, she merely stood across from him, eyes on the sky, hands hanging limply at her sides. It seemed so wrong to see her like that, but he somehow couldn't bring himself to break the silence.

It wasn't long before Sasuke walked up in between them. Like Saburo and Narumi, he wore standard issue mourning, though the boys version was a simple black jumpsuit. Obsidian eyes flickered between them, before he jerked his head quietly in a beckoning gesture.

Narumi and Saburo walked up on either side of him, answering the wordless call as the three of them walked the rest of the way to the center of the village, where the funeral would be held on the roof of the Hokage tower, under the gaze of the faces of the Hokages past.

As they moved out onto the main street leading to the towers entrance, they joined into a stream of equally silent, black clad ninja. Pressing closer together, team seven moved through the crowd, and headed into the tower.

When they reached the roof, the boys were separated from Narumi by the press of the crowd. Saburo frowned, trying to jostle his way back to his teammate, but Sasuke laid a hand on his shoulder, shaking his head, and tugging him forward to join the forming ranks.

The two of them ended up standing side by side in the second row facing the raised stage where the ceremony would take place. Lee, Tenma, and Hirohito stood around them.

They could see Narumi, standing in the front row, near the open aisle that had been left empty by the two blocks of shinobi. Kakashi-sensei stood right behind her, with Shinako and Konohamaru on either side of her. Saburo eyed her rigid back with concern, before turning his eyes back to the front.

As he stood silently to attention, Saburo wondered if his parents and two elder brothers were standing in the crowd of civilians outside the walls that surrounded the Hokage tower. If they were, it was probably only because they knew how important this was to him, not because they felt the weight of the lives lost during the invasion.

It was something Saburo had realized during the days following the invasion. His family did not truly understand the reality of life as a shinobi. Not the good, or the bad. They'd spent the first day trying to convince him to abandon his team for civilian life.

Even after he'd dug his heels in and threatened to move out if they didn't drop it, they hadn't understood why he was so upset about the casualties. They had been safely hidden away during the attack, and once they'd heard that he hadn't known any of the lost personally, they had become confused by his reaction.

It had been a relief to leave the house, and take refuge in the company of his teammates. He had often found himself dreading returning home. That was when he had realized.

He loved his family, loved them dearly. But they would never understand his life, not really. Not anymore. He had a new family now. The shinobi force of Konoha, the comrades who fought with him and supported him, they were who he instinctively turned to now, and they held his first loyalty.

Pride swelled in his chest, mixing with the grief and sorrow he felt for the loss of those who fell in the battle. Suna had officially surrendered before the war had even started, claiming that Orochimaru had tricked them into attacking. Saburo believed it whole-heartedly.

Shaking himself mentally, he returned to the present, eyes flicking over the assembly around him. He relaxed slightly, feeling comforted by the presence of his mourning comrades and the teammate who stood beside him.

No one made a sound, not even the few academy students in attendance. The air was completely and utterly still. As the elders, old teammates of Sandaime-sama, climbed up onto the stage to give speeches, the assembled shinobi looked on with that same silence.

Rain began to fall, and Saburo looked up in surprise, before exchanging a glance with Sasuke. Somewhere among the ranks of shinobi he heard a deep male voice speak, the tone serious and soft.

"Even the sky is crying."

Turning to face the picture of the Sandaime on the long table on the stage, along with the white flowers laid gently in front of it, one of the elders spoke solemnly as a bell tolled deeply.

"We honor Sandaime Hokage-sama, who lost his life fighting Orochimaru, and the other victims who gave their lives in this battle."

Slowly, shinobi began to process forward, one line at a time. Each would walk across the stage, turn to face Sandaime's picture, and gently lay a white carnation on the table. As the moments slipped by, the pile of flowers grew steadily.

Saburo heard only one person crying. The rough sobs of a distressed child reached his ears quickly as Konohamaru turned to the side, and wrapped his arms around Narumi's legs, burying his face in the side of her dress.

For a moment, he thought she might not react, given the painfully rigid set of her shoulders and the stiffness of her bearing. But Narumi just laid her hand comfortingly on the boy's back, rubbing soothing circles there and murmuring to him under her breath.

Finally, it came time for the rows where team seven and the rest of their graduating class stood to pay their respects to their fallen leader. Saburo slipped the delicate carnation from his pocket, fingers tight around the stem as he followed the others into line at the side of the stage.

Shika was the first, stepping up to lay her flower gravely among its fellows, her dark eyes steady as she locked her eyes on the photograph before her. The rain had soaked her shaggy ponytail, slicking it down to a dull black that matched her eyes and dress.

When she turned away, Chouji took her place, the chubby boy abnormally silent and serious as he laid his flower among the glowing pile of blossoms, before following his friend back into formation.

Inori stepped up to lay his tribute atop his team's. Like Narumi, his hair was washed out, though his looked practically white and was held back in a low tail, and his eyes were downcast. Saburo's turn was next, and his hand trembled slightly as he walked up across the stage to make his offering.

He glanced up at the picture, and then quickly away. That picture looked all wrong. Sandaime-sama wasn't wearing his hat, and peered solemnly out at the young rosette. That wasn't right. Sandaime always had his hat, and he never failed to give the younger generation a warm, grandfatherly smile.

Laying the flower among the others, he took in a deep breath, lifted his eyes beyond the picture to the familiar stone face above the tower, and then turned and walked off the stage after Inori.

Following his best friend back into place, he let his eyes go back to the line of genin yet to cross the stage. Sasuke was just moving across the stage, placing his carnation firmly atop the others with a very slight bow of his head, before striding down to take his place beside Saburo.

Kira followed Sasuke, the rambunctious Inuzuka almost unnaturally subdued, followed by the deathly silent Hirohito, who looked nearly as pale as the flower in his hand. Shinako followed her teammate onto the stage, looking a bit worn still from her encounter during the invasion, but otherwise steady and calm.

Narumi was next, the end of her braid dripping water down her back, droplets running down her face and across the whisker markings on her cheeks as she looked up at the picture.

Her back was to Saburo, so he couldn't see her expression, but her hand was steady as she laid the flower down, and when she left the stage, she didn't look back. When she rejoined the formation, he saw Shinako move closer to her, and almost hesitantly brush Narumi's shoulder with hers.

The blonde smiled faintly at the other girl, returning the gesture. The two girls stood like that, shoulder to shoulder, almost as if they were leaning on each other. On Narumi's other side, Konohamaru had taken hold of her hand, scrubbing furiously at his eyes with the other.

It was another hour before the ceremony drew to a close and the gathering began to disperse. At some point, the rain had stopped, and now the clouds had broken up and drifted away, revealing a rich blue sky behind.

Warm sunlight streamed down, bringing the color and life back to the shinobi below. Narumi's hair shone gold again, her eyes that same sparkling blue he'd become accustomed to, and she smiled brightly as he and Sasuke approached.

Even Sasuke seemed to relax slightly at the more normal expression on Narumi's face as she waved to them. Ikuye-sensei had already escorted the academy students away, and Narumi stood between Kakashi-sensei and Shinako.

Grinning, Saburo walked up to her, trailing Sasuke as he waved back.

"Hey Narumi-chan! I'm starved! Want to go for Ichiraku's with me and Sasuke?"

The blonde brightened, bouncing slightly.

"Of course!"

Kakashi chuckled, and shot Saburo an approving smile. The rosette lifted his chin slightly, delighted that his sensei had acknowledged his effort to cheer up the kunoichi. Sasuke grumbled slightly behind him about not saying he'd do any such thing, but Saburo ignored him, knowing that the Uchiha would come just the same.

An older shinobi walked up to Kakashi-sensei just as the reached him, eyes tired but a smile on his lips.

"Kakashi-sempai! Leave the kids be, and come and have a drink with us."

Kakashi-sensei furrowed his brow, looking down at the three of them, before nodding to the other shinobi.

"Give me a minute."

As the other shinobi walked off, Kakashi reached out and set one hand on each of the boys heads, ruffling their hair mercilessly. Sasuke scowled, batting the mans hand away as the jounin smiled at the two of them.

"Look out for each other, okay?"

So saying, he turned and followed the other shinobi off, leaving the boys trying to unruffle their hair. Shinako nodded to Narumi, and started to leave, but Saburo started forward and caught her sleeve.

"Wait a sec!"

When Shinkao turned to look at him, he flushed in embarrassment and stuttered.

"I-I just thought that you m-might like to eat with us?"

Sasuke cocked an eyebrow at him, and Narumi whooped excitedly.

"Yeah, come have ramen with us, Shinako-chan!"

Cheeks turning slightly pink, the dark haired girl nodded once. Sasuke snorted, and Narumi stuck her tongue out at him, snatching both his and Saburo's wrists, and dragging them toward the stairs.

With a yelp, Saburo instinctively reached back and grabbed Shinako's hand, pulling her along behind them as they went. If he'd looked back, he'd have seen Shinako's blush deepen to a darker pink as they clattered down the stairs.

The four young shinobi raced through the village at a breakneck speed, heading towards Ichiraku ramen. By the time they reached the stand, Narumi was beside herself with excitement, and Sasuke was glaring exasperatedly at the back of her head.

As the blonde released her teammates to bounce inside, Saburo laughed, following after her and tugging Shinako after him. It wasn't until Narumi had hopped up on a stool and cheerfully ordered a large miso pork ramen that he realized his fingers were still laced with Shinako's.

The rosettes face turned a bright, tomato red that clashed horribly with his hair, and he dropped the Aburame's hand like it had turned into a lit exploding tag. Scratching his cheek with one finger and muttering excuses under his breath, he hastily gestured her forward.

Shinako nodded quietly, cheeks still very faintly pink as she glided forward to sit gracefully beside Narumi, placing an order in a soft voice. Saburo looked to the side, and saw Sasuke staring at him with raised brows. Coughing, Saburo awkwardly looked away, and quickly took the seat on the opposite side of Narumi from Shinako.

Sasuke took the seat on the other side of Shinako so that the girls were seated between the boys, and Saburo spared a moment to be grateful that their typical formation allowed him to avoid sitting next to either of the dark haired ninja.

After the four of them had all ordered and the old man who owned the stand was cheerfully turned to fixing the food, Sasuke cleared his throat and spoke seriously to Shinako.

"Aburame. Thanks for backing this dobe up during the invasion."

Shinako tilted her head slightly, looking slightly surprised as Narumi grumbled about not being a dobe.

"Of course, Sasuke-kun. After all, is that not our first duty as ninja of Konohagakure? To lend our strength to our comrades to defeat enemies and protect the village is the greatest honor."

Sasuke snorted slightly, propping his chin in his hand and staring quietly at the man preparing their food.

"If it were me, I'd rather be strong enough to fight on my own."

Shinako cocked her head, her frown echoing Saburo's own confusion.

"But Sasuke-kun...do we not all become stronger by pushing ourselves to protect each other? By helping each other to train for that purpose?"

The Uchiha blinked, and then cautiously inclined his head.

"Then how will we ever grow stronger, if we are not willing to admit our weaknesses and lean on our comrades when we need them."

Just then, Teuchi, the man who owned the stand, brought out the ramen, much to Narumi's very vocal delight. Saburo snapped his chopsticks apart, politely ignoring Sasuke's wide-eyed staring at Shinako, and focusing on his food.

'_I just hope Sasuke and Narumi don't start another eating contest in front of Shinako.'_

The very thought made him groan with embarrassment, and he took a moment to wonder if inviting everyone out to eat had been a terrible idea.

* * *

><p>Sasuke walked quietly through the streets of Konoha with his hands in his pockets. All around him were people working on rebuilding the half-destroyed parts of the village. Watching them, he fervently hoped that team seven wouldn't be put back to D rank missions any time soon.<p>

Their experience with construction after helping with Tazuna's massive bridge from the mission to Nami no Kuni left him in no doubt of exactly what the three of them would be doing. The Uchiha snorted and looked away uneasily. He'd much rather be training.

When he reached the tea house where he was supposed to meet Kakashi-sensei, he was surprised to see the silver-haired jounin standing outside it, orange book in hand, along with two other jounin, a red eyed woman and a man with a cigarette.

Surprised, the Uchiha spoke up as he approached his sensei, voicing his shock at seeing his ever late sensei actually arriving before him.

"Kakashi-sensei? You're here first?"

The man replied to him in a laid-back tone, but didn't glance away from his intense scrutiny of something behind him.

"Maa, it happens from time to time."

Confused, Sasuke followed his teachers gaze, and found that the other jounin shared it. The three of them were looking intensely at the interior of the tea house, but as far as Sasuke could tell, the table they were looking at was empty except for two steaming cups of green tea and a plate of sweet dango.

Confused, Sasuke looked back at Kakashi, face twisted into an expression of confusion. Before he could ask any questions, Kakashi flicked a look at the other two jounin. They nodded, and then vanished.

Sasuke's instincts murmured in the back of his head, and he warily looked at the place where they had just vanished. Something was up, and considering what had just happened during the exams, and the current state of the village, he did NOT like the idea of alarmed jounin sneaking around being mysterious.

But before he could say anything to Kakashi, his teacher turned to him with his usual benevolent smile.

"Sorry about this Sasuke, but somethings come up. Can you train on your own today?"

Without waiting for a reply, the copy-nin vanished in the same manner as the two jounin from before. Sasuke's eyes narrowed.

'_Yeah, something is definitely up.'_

Suddenly feeling uneasy, Sasuke decided to go train, as Kakashi-sensei had suggested. Turning on his heel, he headed out to the train grounds, intending to work his suspicions out there.

He could use the training anyway. He didn't like to admit it, but it seemed like Narumi was becoming really strong. The girl couldn't lie to save her life, so when she said she defeated Gaara, he believed her. He couldn't defeat Gaara even with the chidori, which meant that Narumi had accomplished something he couldn't.

The idea left a foul taste in his mouth, but on the other hand, the Aburame had a point. He'd never improved as fast as when he and Narumi had been training together in tree-walking. So if she was stronger than he was now, the best way to draw even with her again was to admit it, and then get stronger than her so they could train together again.

Besides, training with Narumi was more fun than any other type of training he'd ever tried.

Still, as much as he tried to calm his mind, the image of the three jounin staring at two cups of tea, and then vanishing away without a word of explanation continued to bother him throughout the morning. No matter how hard he tried to focus on his training, the doubt remained.

It wasn't until his stomach forced him to stop for lunch that he had to admit to himself that this particular method of calming his mind wasn't working for once. Disgruntled, he returned to the Uchiha compound. He was hot, sweaty, and starving, and he intended to take care of those desires first.

Closing the gate of the compound behind him, he trotted up to his families old home and slipped in the door, heading straight for the kitchen. Opening the refrigerator he pulled out a bowl of tomato salad that he'd fixed specifically for after todays training.

Too hungry to simply serve himself out some on a plate, he grabbed a pair of chopsticks from a nearby drawer, and snatched up a slice of tomato, leaning against the counter as he ate. Popping it into his mouth, he chewed slowly, savoring the fresh taste of tomato combined with the salt, pepper, and oil he'd marinated them in.

As he ate, his body cooled and relaxed, returning automatically to a ready state, but his mind continued to race, as disturbed by the events of the morning as ever. He had planned to shower after he finished his tomatoes, but even the time it had taken him to eat hadn't allowed his mind to settle.

So with a frustrated grunt, he decided to go confront Kakashi-sensei about it. Pulling his combat sandals back on, and securing his gear, he left the compound. Moving through the village quickly, he dodged those working on reconstruction as he went, heading straight for Kakashi's apartment building.

When he arrived, he found that the building had taken only light damage in the attack, meaning there was a distinct lack of construction workers in the area. They were all working on the more heavily damaged areas, dealing with the most critical projects, such as the wall, first.

Mounting the stairs, Sasuke quietly climbed up to the second floor, and padded along the hall to Kakashi's door. Raising his hand, he hesitated as the voices of this years jounin sensei drifted through the door.

Opening the door, he stepped in with a slight frown.

"Kakashi-sensei..."

He froze as he spotted his teacher laying in his bed without his gear, apparently fast asleep. The two jounin from this morning, and Lee's sensei Maito Gai were standing around his room with guarded expressions.

Sasuke furrowed his brows in concern, his gaze going back to the jounin on the bed. Sasuke wasn't stupid. He could tell that Kakashi was unconscious rather than asleep, and he'd never seen that faintly strained, agonized expression on his sensei's face before. Sasuke felt his heartbeat begin to speed up, but he kept his voice even.

"Why's Kakashi-sensei asleep? And why are jounins here?"

Alarm rising, Sasuke moved forward into the room, eyes intent on Kakashi's still form before swiveling around to drill aggressively into Gai as he snarled at them.

"What happened to him?"

Gai's voice was nonchalant as he fixed his gaze casually on a spot near the end of the bed.

"Nothing much happened."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. He knew his sensei almost as well as he knew his teammates, and he was not stupid enough to believe even for an instant that 'nothing much' could put _Kakashi_ in this sort of condition. Did they really think he was such a fool?

Before he could say anything else, a chuunin came running up to the door, out of breath, his voice wild and unnerved as he panted. The man ignored Sasuke, directly addressing the jounin in the room.

"Is it true that _the_ Itachi came back? And he's after Narumi?"

Sasuke's eyes widened. The breath whooshed out of him, and he felt like he'd been sucker-punched in the gut. His vision seemed to tunnel down, the mans voice echoing as if it were coming from a long way off.

'_Itachi...Itachi is back? And he's...'_

The blood drained from Sasuke's face.

'_...he's after Narumi!'_

In his minds eye, he saw his traitorous brother standing under a red moon, sharingan eyes glowing brilliant red, standing over the body of his cheerful blonde teammate. He could practically smell the dark blood oozing up from a wound in her chest, see her vacant, clouded blue eyes staring up at her murderer even in death.

His stomach twisted violently, and his eyes widened, chakra surging as rage burst into being within him, racing through his veins. It felt like someone had set the inside of his body on fire. Suddenly to stand still, to not move, to not _ACT_, was more than he could bear.

'_I absolutely won't allow it! I'll kill him first!'_

Exploding forward, he shoved past the chuunin still standing in the door, and raced down the corridor, down the stairs, and out onto the street. He had to find her! He had to find Narumi right this instant and make sure she was alright!

Springing from roof to roof, he sprinted at top speed through the village, eyes wild. His brother was back. He wasn't here for Sasuke either. He'd hurt Kakashi, and now he was going after his teammate. What the hell was going on?

It didn't take Sasuke long to arrive at Narumi's apartment building. This building had taken moderate damage during the attack, though Narumi's apartment hadn't been too badly damaged. Ignoring the stairs, he sprang right up the side of the building, throwing all thoughts of decorum out the window as he raced for her door.

Grabbing the handle, he wrenched it open. Someone cried out, and Saburo stumbled forward, hand on the door handle, pulled off balance by Saburo's sudden yank. The other boy dropped a bag of groceries on the ground by his feet as he regained his balance, squinting up at Sasuke in surprise.

"Sasuke? What in the-"

The Uchiha cut him off harshly, wide obsidian eyes fixed on him, desperately searching for information as he questioned his teammate in a harsh, urgent tone.

"Where's Narumi?"

Looking confused, Saburo scratched his cheek with a finger, squinting one eye closed.

"I just got here but she's not..."

Sasuke ignored the rest of the sentence, dashing off down the hall at top speed. Leaping away from the apartment building, he shot off across the village towards Ichiraku's determined to find Narumi as fast as possible.

'_If Itachi gets to Narumi first, she'll be killed! I won't let that happen!'_

Skidding to a stop outside Ichiraku, he peered hurriedly inside, but found no reassuring blaze of orange. Ducking inside, he shouted at Teuchi, heart pounding wildly in fear.

"Old man! Narumi should have come here! Do you know where she went?"

The man looked up in surprise, voice congenial as he lifted his hand thoughtfully to his chin.

"Oh, Narumi huh?"

Humming he looked towards the ceiling, and Sasuke manfully resisted the urge to shake him and scream for the older man to hurry.

"Let's see...Jiraya-san came here around noon and had some ramen with her. Then they said they were going somewhere..."

Impatiently, Sasuke snapped at him, fists tightly clenched, body practically vibrating with tension.

"Where?"

Humming again, Teuchi spoke slowly, as if working his thoughts out even as the words left his mouth.

"I think...it was the small lodging town that clients use. You know, the one just a little ways away from the village...?"

Nodding, Teuchi grinned in a satisfied manner.

"Yep, she went there with Jiraya-san!"

Sasuke furrowed his brow, forcing himself to cool down a bit. It was important that he know as much as possible.

"Jiraya?"

Teuchi nodded, his grin widening as he held up three fingers.

"Jiraya, one of the three genius ninja known as the Sannin! They're legendary you know."

Chuckling ruefully, the old man shook his head.

"Well, the fact is that Jiraya only looks like a big guy with white hair but..."

Nodding hard, Sasuke turned and sprang away from the stand, leaping high into the air as he raced towards the village gate, muttering under his breath as he went.

"Lodging town...bit and white-haired..."

Technically speaking, genin were not supposed to leave the village without permission, and supervision from a jounin, but Sasuke didn't particularly care at that moment. The chuunin who usually kept watch over the gate were busy helping with man the walls, so he was able to sprint through and into the forest without being stopped.

Pumping as much chakra as he could into his legs and core without ripping through the muscles, he picked up his speed, sending himself hurtling through the trees at a pace that would be suicide for anyone but a shinobi born into Konoha and raised among the trees.

"Narumi, you'd better be alright!"

At the pace he was going, it wasn't even fifteen minutes before he reached the crowded town where he'd been promised Narumi would be. Racing in, he stopped at the top of a flight of stairs that led down to the main street, his eyes darting wildly over the festive, noisy thoroughfare.

His face bunched into a snarl as he jumped the stairs, landing lightly on the road and flashing down it so fast that the civilians who made up the crowd never even noticed his passage. As he ran, he strained his chakra sensing abilities as well as his eyes, searching for a flash of orange, or the sense of a brilliantly warm fountain of chakra as familiar to him as his or Saburo's.

But his sensing capabilities were still weak compared to Saburo, so he ground to a stop in the middle of the street, looking around with narrowed eyes and muttering to himself.

"I'll just have to check every shop."

Crisscrossing across the street, he searched each with a quick probe, but could not find Narumi. Mind working furiously, he turned his eyes towards the inns. Perhaps this Jiraya had decided to stay the night?

Darting into the nearest inn, he raced to the counter, leaning over it to stare intently at the wide-eyed civilian woman behind it.

"Is a blonde girl with a stupid face around my age and a big man with white hair staying here?"

The woman smiled nervously at him, her voice unfailingly polite.

"I'm sorry, but our inn is for women only..."

Before she could finish, he was gone again, racing to the next place. This time it was a man behind the desk, who peered sourly at him as he breathlessly gave him the same description. Even Sasuke could hear the panic in his own voice now.

"Please, is a blonde girl around my age staying here with a big, white-haired guy?"

The man sniffed at him, glancing away as the boy panted.

"I'm afraid not."

Ignoring him, Sasuke turned and dashed back out to the street, chest heaving, mind racing with desperation.

'_Come on, Narumi! You've gotta be somewhere around here!'_

Sucking in a deep breath, he leapt over the crowded causeway, and ran along the street to the next inn, skidding up to the desk.

"Are a blonde girl around my age and a big man with white hair staying here?"

The woman blinked at him.

"White hair?"

Losing his patience with the civilians who were preventing him from reaching his teammate, Sasuke slammed his hand down on the desk, causing the items placed atop it to jump and the woman to squeak and lean back.

"Are they here?"

The woman squinted thoughtfully, apparently already over her fright, and disregarding him as an unthreatening child.

"I may have seen one when I was changing shifts..."

Grinding his teeth, Sasuke trembled and resisted the urge to drag the woman across the desk by the front of her uniform. Finally she looked down at him with an enlightened expression.

"Oh right! The blonde girl and the white haired man!"

Anticipation heightened, Sasuke leaned forward, eyes intent as he growled desperately at her.

"Are they here? What room!

The woman looked down at the guest logbook in front of her, running her finger down the page and murmuring thoughtfully to herself.

"Let's see...

Impatiently, Sasuke leaned over the desk to stare hard at the book, vaguely surprised it didn't burst into flames under his gaze.

"Second floor, end of the hall, room one..."

Ignoring her slow paced babble, Sasuke turned away from the desk and flat out ran for the stairs. He was gone before she ever looked up.

Bounding up the stairs three at a time, he fixed his eyes on what he could see of the landing above him. When he skidded into the hall, he turned and threw himself towards the door at the end of it.

Breathlessly, he lifted his hand and knocked on the door, careful not to infuse any chakra into his muscles for fear he'd break the thing in his anxiety. When the door started to unlock, he wrenched it open, shouting out.

"Narumi!"

The girl looking up at him in alarm was certainly blonde, but her face was round and pudgy, her squinched looking eyes a plain green-brown, and her face liberally dusted with freckles. Beyond her sat an old man, and both were most definitely civilians.

Drawing back in horror, he breathed out three soft words, feeling like his stomach had dropped into his feet.

"It's not them..."

That was when he felt it. A chakra spike that turned his blood to ice and sent shivers running down his spine.

One source was definitely Narumi. Warm, bright, and crystalline as usual, but threaded with a deep-seated terror. The other, he also knew. Dark, brooding, and hungry, it reminded him of a blood-soaked night beneath a red moon.

A single though penetrated his horrified daze.

'_Oh kami, he found her first...'_

With a sudden, virulent expletive, Sasuke spun on his heel, and crossed his arms, launching himself through the window at the end of the hall, smashing the glass with his own body, ignoring the small cuts that opened along his forearms as he exited the building.

Ignoring the streets, he raced across the roofs, fear lending speed to him even as it killed his ability to think beyond the moment. When the building holding those signatures came into sight, he dropped to the ground, and swept through the lobby and up the stairs.

As he leapt into the hall, he heard a rough, gleeful voice address his brother.

"Just to make sure she doesn't move around too much, maybe we should take off a leg or two, don't you think Itachi-san?"

Sasuke stared. His brother and a blue skinned shinobi with a large sword stood at the end of the hall, both wearing long black cloaks with red clouds. Between them, he could see Narumi. She was staring up at them, wide-eyed, breathing in and out heavily, her body shuddering.

When Itachi didn't answer, the other shinobi stepped forward, hand going to the hilt of his sword.

"Then I shall."

Narumi swallowed hard, pupils dilating as she suddenly backed up and lifted her hands into a cross shape.

"K-kage Bunshin!"

Four clones appeared with her, and the swordsman snorted. With a swing of his sword, he cleaved through all four clones, and smashed Narumi between the wall and the broad surface of his weapon as she turned to face the oncoming threat.

The blonde girl gasped, grabbing the bandage wrapped, rounded edge of the blade in both hands and struggling. The man chuckled, and suddenly the part of the sword touching her erupted into what looked like hundreds of moving steel fangs that suddenly stood up, bristling into a field of sharp points, shredding the bandage wrappings wound around the blade.

Narumi screamed, chakra flaring erratically as the surface of the sword bit deeply into her palms, abdomen, and lower ribcage. Red blood welled up and dripped down her legs, splattering onto the floor beneath her.

"Now girlie, if you'll hold still, this'll be much easier."

Sasuke hissed and took a step forward as her attacker chuckled. Itachi suddenly spoke up quietly.

"It's been a long time, hasn't it Sasuke?"

The other man suddenly went quiet and turned to look at him, and Narumi's pained blue eyes turned to him as well. She called out to him, her voice strained and small.

"S-Sasuke...help me..."

Sasuke remembered the Aburame's words to him at Ichiraku, about becoming stronger by protecting your comrades when you're strong and relying on them when you're vulnerable. Rage blazed up in him. Narumi was strong, she was the teammate he trusted. How dare his brother try to harm her.

If she was vulnerable right now, that meant he had to be strong enough to face his brother, and face him now. He had no more time. Chakra rushed to Sasuke's eyes, and his vision sharpened as his sharingan bloomed into existence.

Grinning lopsidedly, the man whose sword was still pinning Narumi to the wall spoke casually to Itachi.

"Oh, the sharingan...and he's very similar to you."

Itachi's voice was flat when he spoke.

"He is my little brother."

Narumi's eyes widened, and fixed questioningly on Sasuke, but he kept his eyes focused on the threat, growling viciously at Itachi's back.

"Get the hell away from my teammate!"

Itachi turned to face him, sharingan whirling lazily as red eyes met red eyes. Sasuke summoned his chakra, charging up a chidori that sang in his hand, it's blue-white heat reminding him comfortingly of Kakashi.

Slamming the chidori into the wall, he charged his brother grimly, the tomoe of his sharingan whirling so fast that they blurred as he roared exactly what his brother would expect at him.

"Die!"

His brother began to move as Sasuke closed the distance, and relief spread through the younger Uchiha. At the last minute, he changed the direction of his strike. Twisting, he dropped to the floor on his side and slid between the two men, slamming his chidori towards the swordsman's legs.

Swearing, the strange man leapt back, allowing the chidori to create a crater in the floor where he had been a moment before. Sasuke didn't wait for the man to recover, instantly rolling to his feet, and springing to Narumi's side.

Now that the swordsman no longer had the leverage and strength provided by a steady stance, Sasuke would be able to get Narumi away from him. Grabbing the edge of the sword along with Narumi, he flinched at the pain of the steel teeth ripping into his palms and fingers before heaving with all his strength, tearing the sword backwards.

Narumi gasped, instantly dodging to the side, away from the blade. Sasuke caught a full body glimpse of her as she moved, and his stomach rolled. The clothes covering her lower torso had been literally shredded, hanging in strips over the bloody gouges left on her flesh.

Turning back to face Itachi, he started to assume a defensive position in front of his wounded teammate. As he angrily met his brothers gaze, his mouth twisted up into a terrible snarl.

Suddenly, Narumi moved up beside him, gulping hard. Throwing her a glance he hissed at her.

"Dobe! You're hurt, get back!"

Keeping her eyes on the enemy, she moved closer to him and muttered angrily, though her face was still drawn with pain.

"No way! We're comrades and I am NOT letting you fight alone!"

Bringing her hands together, a look of concentration came over her face, and suddenly chakra surged around them, a circle of red blazing up and swirling around their feet. The two men seemed to perk up, eyes sharpening. The swordsman spoke lowly.

"Ho...I recognize that chakra, girlie. Can't have that, can we?"

The man started to move forward, and Sasuke growled, sharingan gaze flickering back and forth between the two men as he pulled out a Kunai, holding it out warningly as he prepared to cover whatever Narumi was about to try.

Itachi suddenly surged forward and grabbed his wrist as he lifted the kunai. Both Itachi and the other shinobi had their eyes fixed on Narumi.

"You're a bother."

Before Sasuke could attempt anything, Itachi broke his wrist. Crying out, the boy dropped to his knees, vision hazy with pain. Beside him Narumi yelled in alarm.

"Sasuke!"

He was vaguely aware of Narumi's leg whistling over his head towards Itachi. The older shinobi caught the kick with one arm, stepping back slightly to steal most of the power of the blow. Instantly, Narumi snapped her leg back into her body, spinning full circle, and crouching beside Sasuke. Quickly she flashed through several hand seals. But before she could finish, the swordsman advanced, slicing out towards her and speaking cooly.

"Too slow."

In an instant, the swirl of chakra around them disappeared. Narumi stiffened, eyes widening. Then she cursed, her voice choked with alarm.

"Why? Where did my chakra go?"

The swordsman snorted and heaved his bloodied blade over his shoulder, staring down at them condescendingly.

"My Samehada can shave off flesh, and devour chakra."

Narumi stared up at them, obviously stricken and alarmed.

"It would be annoying if you tried to use any of your petty techniques."

Sasuke growled, reaching out to grab Narumi's wrist with his uninjured hand. She shifted closer to him in response, both of them determined not to go down without a fight. Sasuke glared up at Itachi, lips tightly compressed as he stared his brother down.

'_Not this time! I won't let you take anyone from me this time! Especially my teammates!'_

The swordsman chuckled at the two of them, pointing his sword at Narumi, it's teeth writhing sickeningly as if it were reaching for her, the red of their combined blood causing it to glisten wetly in the light.

"Maybe I should take your arms as well as your legs, girlie. Samehada here certainly won't complain!"

Physically sickened by the threat, Sasuke pulled himself into a crouch, angling himself so that he was poised to leap up and block the coming blow, reaching into his weapons holster for another kunai.

The swordsman smirked down at him, inhumanely sharp teeth, like those of a shark, glistening at him from the mans mouth.

"Futile."

The blade came whistling down, and Sasuke lifted his Kunai, finding that Narumi lifted one of her own at the same time. Both of them braced for the blow, tensed for the shock of the heavier sword smashing down on them.

Instead there was a sudden explosion of smoke, and an armored toad appeared, catching the frightening looking blade on it's upraised arms. Sasuke stared numbly up at the thing. It took him a moment to convince himself that was he was seeing was real.

After that, he remembered Narumi mentioning that she had been taught to summon toads, and wondered how she'd done it without him noticing. But when he glanced over at her she looked just as surprised. Bewildered, he wondered if this was good or bad.

Another explosion of smoke erupted behind them, and Sasuke turned to glance over his shoulder. A low, relaxed voice came floating out of the smoke.

"You two...don't know me very well."

As the smoke cleared, a very large man with white hair, a broad grin, and long red stripes running from his eyes to his jawline appeared behind them.

"You don't actually think I'd run off thoughtlessly with a woman after being entrusted with the care of a little girl, do you?"

Narumi joined him in looking back, her eyes alight with relief.

"Ero-sennin!"

Glaring at the men standing across from them, he stooped to lay the woman tossed over his shoulder gently beside the wall.

"Really, you two are a disgrace to all men. Using those eyes of yours to hypnotize a woman into trying to separate me from my apprentice."

Standing, he moved back up to stand directly behind the two crouched genin, facing the nuke-nin down easily.

"So you were after Narumi after all."

Sasuke knew that by now of course, but he still felt uneasy hearing it said out loud. No matter how he thought about it, it was just weird. The only reason he could think of for his brother being after Narumi would be to further torment him, but then why did this guy know? And why hadn't they gone after unguarded prey?

Itachi fixed his cold red gaze on the larger shinobi, his voice unchanged from the moment he'd broken Sasuke's wrist.

"I had wondered how Kakashi-san knew. I see now though. You are the source of his information."

Cocking his head, the Uchiha fixed the three Konoha-nin with a blank stare, his voice unyielding, without a hint of doubt or hesitation.

"We are ordered by our organization, the Akatsuki, to take Narumi with us.

The blonde beside Sasuke flinched, and he shot her a reassuring glance. She met his gaze and nodded tightly. The toad between them and the enemy suddenly vanished, and Jiraya spoke in a low, warning voice.

"I won't hand Narumi over to you."

Itachi just eyed him, not budging an inch, not backing down.

"We'll see about that."

Jiraya snorted, stepping closer to the crouched genin, his large form becoming a broad shelter for the two of them as he rumbled at the akatsuki members.

"Well then, I guess I'll just have to get rid of the two of you here."

Sasuke tensed slightly at the words, his jaw clenching. He was supposed to kill Itachi! It was his duty to avenge his clan, to make his brother pay with his life! That had been his goal since he woke up in the hospital after the massacre. It was what he had trained so hard for!

He made as if to stand, intending to challenge Jiraya for the right to Itachi's life, but as he did the movement caused him to brush into Narumi, knocking her slightly off balance. The kunoichi threw out her hand instinctively to catch her fall, hissing in pain as her bloody palm came into contact with the rough grain of the wood floor.

The sound halted Sasuke, drawing his eyes to Narumi. The tense set of her body, and the way her eyes flicked back and forth between him and Itachi made him feel guilty. Right now, he should be worried about protecting his comrade, not chasing after his damned brother. Catching Narumi's wrist, he cautiously stood, and pulled her behind Jiraya.

The kunoichi gave him a long, hard look. Then the corner of her lips twitched up into a small smile, and she whispered quietly to him.

"Thanks, Sasuke."

Itachi spoke up, his voice wintery and sharper than a blade.

"Foolish little brother. You would let another fight your battles for you?"

Sasuke's head shot around to meet his brothers gaze, and his sharingan picked up speed, whirling dangerously. Narumi stepped up beside him, shouting indignantly at Itachi, though her eyes showed her nervousness about provoking such a powerful shinobi.

"Hey! Don't talk about Sasuke like that!"

In that moment, Itachi's sharingan morphed, and Sasuke found himself falling, the world around him inverting. When he found himself standing in his parents room, six years old with black skin and white hair, he trembled. Not again. Oh kami, not again!

A small voice sounded beside him.

"What the hell? What is this?"

Turning, Sasuke was surprised, and terrified to see a six year old Narumi, black hair only chin-length, flopping over death-white skin that nearly glowed against the blackness around them.

Wide eyes fixed on him, and her voice trembled.

"Sasuke? Is that you?"

He nodded once, frantically trying to convince himself that he was not six years old. This was not happening again. And how had Itachi drawn Narumi into the genjutsu with him? When he spoke, his voice was high and thin, the voice of his child-self laced with the terror he desperately wanted to hide.

"We're in my b-brothers genjutsu. Th-this is..."

Itachi's voice resonated around them, menacing and silky.

"This is our house."

When Sasuke looked up sharply, he saw them. His father and mother, sitting on the far side of the room with their eyes closed, his brother behind them. Alarmed, he cried out to them.

"Dad! Mom!"

Itachi's voice sounded around him, darkly amused.

"You are weak. For the next twenty-four hours, you will wander within that day. I will teach you your weakness."

Sasuke stared, unable to stop himself from whimpering.

"Stop it..."

Beside him, Narumi's voice whispered uneasily.

"What is it, Sasuke? What's going on?"

The blade in his brothers hand lifted and scythed down, slicing through his parents. Sasuke screamed in agony, throat aching as the guttural cry ripped from his chest. Beside him, he heard Narumi's own horrified cry join his.

White blood splashed across the black floor, and Sasuke twisted his fingers through his hair, shaking his head wildly, trying to block out the sight and sound of his worst nightmare creeping out of the darkest depths of his mind.

The scenery changed, and they were standing in the street, the bodies of his clan falling around him, their blood soaking the street and splashing up against the walls, as his brothers voice rang out around him.

"Their deaths are your fault. The result of your weakness."

Sasuke began to hyperventilate, unable to process the horror of it all, screaming and screaming until he thought his throat must be bleeding. Suddenly small arms wrapped around him from behind, tiny hands pressing tightly over his eyes to block out his sight, a shaky voice sounding in his ear.

"It's alright, Sasuke, it's alright! Don't listen to that bastard, this is definitely _not your fault!_ You were only six years old, and you weren't even here!"

Taking a deep breath, Narumi continued to shout in his ear, doing her best to drowned out the sounds around them.

"Do you hear me, Sasuke? This twisted bastard is just screwing with your head! Don't you let him! I know you're too strong for this guy, I know it! It's not your fault dammit!"

Sasuke homed in on her voice, body trembling, as his screams died out, hands coming up to grip her wrists, squeezing so tightly that she gasped in pain before continuing.

"C'mon, teme, you can beat this! Calm down! It's not your fault, it's not your fault, it's not your fault! No one is strong when they're six years old! If anyone tells you otherwise they're lying! There is nothing you could have done! You didn't do anything wrong!"

He knew that if he could see what was going on, he'd lose it again. He didn't want to live through this again. Tightening his grip on Narumi, he focused on breathing, letting her words soak into him as she kept up a constant stream of sound, not even stopping for breath.

The younger Uchiha had no idea why Itachi had brought her here, but he was insanely grateful that his brother had made that particular miscalculation.

Then everything went suspiciously still, and Narumi's hands vanished from his eyes. Blinking, he looked around wildly for his teammate. He found himself standing atop a black lake, under a red sky with a black moon.

The lake water surged up, wrapping around his arms and legs, holding him in place. Across from him, appeared his brother, and his teammate. Narumi was in her own form now, her jacket and hair ink black against the glowing white of her skin.

The kunochi stood in front of Itachi, facing Sasuke with wide-eyes. Itachi wore his akatsuki cloak, a sword in his hand. Sasuke's stomach dropped and his eyes widened. The sensation of sick realization, of agonized horror, only multiplied when Narumi raised her eyes to his and whispered in shock.

"I can't move. Sasuke, my arms and legs won't move."

Itachi reached out, his hand curling around Narumi's throat as he leaned down, his face hovering next to hers as he stared at Sasuke. His cheek brushed against the inky strands of her discolored hair, his voice soft and silky.

"What was it she said? The massacre wasn't your fault?"

Glancing sideways, Itachi withdrew his hand slowly, trailing his fingers across her jugular before he stepped back.

"Well, perhaps she's right. Not protecting the clan may not have been your fault..."

Itachi raised his sword, and Sasuke's eyes widened as he thrashed wildly against the restraints imposed on him, knowing what was coming, unable to prevent it.

"...but this will be."

The sword whistled down, cutting deep into Narumi's back. Blood sprayed against the red of the sky, Narumi's eyes widening, her jaw locking to muffle a scream as she fell forward into the water.

Sasuke screamed profanity at his brother, throwing all his weight into struggling. But it was no use. The world of tsukiyomi was entirely under his brothers control. Ignoring him, Itachi kicked Narumi in the side, rolling her onto her back, causing her to groan at the mistreatment.

With an impassive face, the older shinobi reversed his grip, and plunged his sword through her stomach, his arm lifting and falling as he stabbed her again and again until she could only writhe and cry out brokenly.

Sasuke screamed until he was hoarse, fought the restraints until they bit into his flesh, sending rivulets of white blood dripping into the blackness of the lake they stood on. After what seemed like ages, Itachi stepped back and waved his hand.

Narumi vanished, and reappeared in front of him, unharmed and panting for breath. Her gaze locked with Sasuke's as Itachi raised the sword again, his voice ominously calm and flat, a smirk tugging at his lips as he stared at Sasuke.

"Do you wish to kill me yet, foolish little brother?"

Sasuke could feel the heavy heat of his brothers gaze burning into him, but he wouldn't give him the satisfaction of meeting his gaze. He had bigger concerns at the moment. Determinedly, Sasuke ignored Itachi's demanding eyes, keeping his gaze locked with that of his teammate.

After a long moment, Itachi spoke, his voice not carrying even a hint of displeasure at the small display of defiance by the two genin caught within his trap.

"Twenty three hours, thirty-nine minutes, twelve seconds left to go."

Narumi's brows drew together, and she snarled defiantly even as the sword fell towards her.

"It ain't real! I ain't scared of you, 'ttebayo!"

White blood sprayed up again, and Narumi's teeth clenched, her body refusing to obey her as it splashed to the waters surface, staining the black of the lack with a puddle of white. Itachi rolled her over and lifted the sword.

Sasuke screamed.

* * *

><p>When Sasuke finally opened his eyes with a shuddering gasp to find the world painted in colors almost too vivid for his eyes to handle, he thought he would weep with relief. Almost mindlessly, he whirled to Narumi. She was all brilliant orange and gold and tanned skin again, but she was falling forward, unconscious.<p>

Fighting off the blackness dragging at the edges of his own vision, Sasuke flung out his arms and caught her, scrambling backwards to put as much distance between them and Itachi as he could manage. Jiraya crouched in front of them, hands flat against the floor as pink flesh spread across the entire inside of the corridor they stood in, sealing them in.

Jiraya's voice growled out angrily.

"You're out of luck, Itachi, Kisame. You're inside a stomach now."

Sasuke panted for breath as the man continued, doing his absolute best to shield his vulnerable teammate from Itachi's view, and he couldn't stop himself from running his hand across her back, compulsively checking for the sticky heat of blood as Jiraya continued. He suddenly wanted to take all three of his teammates, including Kakashi, and lock them firmly away in the safe areas in the Hokage mountain.

"I summoned the esophagus of a gigantic frog from Myouboku Mountains rock inn. I'll turn the both of you into food for this rock frog!"

Sasuke looked around dazedly, not sure what was going on.

"What the..."

Jiraya's voice rang out sharply.

"Boy! You stay there and look after my apprentice! Don't worry, I'll protect the both of you, and deal with these two!"

Sasuke swallowed hard and nodded, not trusting his voice. Itachi's voice rang out, and the younger Uchiha flinched, half expecting the world to bleed black and white.

"Kisame, come."

The two nuke-nin dashed off down the corridor, heading for the exit. Jiraya growled after them.

"It's useless. No one has ever escaped this technique before."

The two of them ignored him, whipping around the corner. After a moment, there was an explosion, and Jiraya growled, darting after them.

Jiraya came back shortly afterwards, looking dissatisfied. Frowning, he sat down in front of Sasuke, opening a scroll and pulling out an ink laden brush. Bending over it, he began to write, and when he spoke, his voice was gruff.

"They're gone. You can relax."

Sasuke nodded jerkily, but his body continued to tremble, and he had long since dropped the sharingan. After Jiraya finished what he was writing, he flashed through several hand seals.

"Fuuinjutsu Fuukahouin!"

Chakra ghosted up from the scroll, twisting and winding up and around the corner, and out of sight. After a moment, the chakra returned and settled back into the scroll. A glowing red kanji appeared in the blank spot on the scroll, and the sannin quickly rolled it up, tying it shut with a length of cord.

"This should do for now."

Slamming a hand into the wall, Jiraya waited as the pink flesh receded, leaving behind a normal wooden floored inn corridor. Reaching out his arms to Sasuke, he spoke in a gruffly gentle tone.

"Alright, kid, let me see her."

Sasuke hesitated, afraid to let go for fear something awful would happen to the unconscious kunoichi. Jiraya gave him a half aggrieved look.

"Oi, she's my apprentice! You don't seriously think I'd hurt her, do you?"

After a long moment, Sasuke loosened his grip, and handed the limp blonde over to the older shinobi. Standing, Jiraya heaved her effortlessly into his arms, cradling her against his chest.

A kunai suddenly flashed between them, and Jiraya swore. A large hand clamped around Sasuke's shoulder, and he found himself yanked forward as Jiraya sprang backward. A large, green-clad shinobi came spinning in, crying out as he launched into a flying kick at the air where Jiraya had been half a second before.

"DYNAMIC ENTRY!"

As the jounin sailed past them and created a large hole in the wall, Jiraya sighed and shook his head silently.

"That Gai. Kid never learns."

Looking down at Sasuke, he rolled his eyes.

"I swear, the man gets weirder every time I see him."

Sasuke felt the last of the quivering leave his body, though he still felt that strange, hollow numbness that he dimly remembered as being a sign of shock. Clearing his throat, Gai pulled his foot from the wall, and came over to them, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"Um...sorry about that Jiraya-sama...I thought you were the enemy...I'm really very sorry!"

Jiraya rolled his eyes again and sighed.

"Never mind that. Anyway, I need you to escort Sasuke back to the village. I don't think it's a good idea for the kid to go back alone."

Sasuke started, immediately protesting.

"What about Narumi? She needs to be taken to the hospital!"

Jiraya's gaze softened, and he freed a hand to lay reassuringly on top of his hair. Sasuke stilled at the touch, though he was far from pleased at the way things were going.

"Don't worry, kid. I'll take good care of her. She'll be right as rain in no time. Anyway, the two of us were going to see a medical specialist anyway, so she'll be checked out by the best. You go on back, and let your teammate and sensei know what happened, okay?"

Sasuke shook his head stubbornly, and Gai spoke up.

"Kakashi was also hit with this attack. If you remain here, Saburo-kun will be left on his own, with no idea what happened to his team."

Sasuke growled slightly. That wasn't fair. Now he definitely had to go back. He did NOT want to leave Narumi. He wanted to haul her back to the Uchiha compound, grab the others, and not come out for a week. But she had Jiraya to protect her. Saburo was surrounded by civilians, people who were more liability than protection. And Sasuke was feeling more than a little paranoid about leaving any member of his team exposed right now.

Unhappily, the Uchiha nodded, the gesture tightly controlled.

"You'll bring her back soon?"

When the sannin nodded, Sasuke glared ferociously up at him, trying communicate the state he expected Narumi returned in, and the possible consequences of failure to succeed in that endeavor.

Jiraya nodded once to him, before his face became grave and his eyes lifted to Gai.

"The two of them were involved in a very heavy psychological attack. I can sort out Narumi, but I think Sasuke was the main target. He should be looked over."

Sasuke wanted to protest, but he knew there was no point. Gai said a few more words to Jiraya, and then took his shoulder, guiding him gently out of the building, and leading him back off to the village. Sasuke stood for a minute, looking back at where Jiraya was just emerging with an unconscious Narumi.

The Sannin caught him looking and nodded, making a shooing motion with his hand. Sasuke gritted his teeth and launched after Gai, his fists clenching tightly, as he cursed under his breath.

The memory of twenty-four hours worth of watching his teammate tortured flashed across his mind, and his eyes narrowed, his teeth grinding painfully together.

"Damn it!"

'_Never again! I won't allow him to touch them, ever again!'_

Looking ahead with determined eyes, Sasuke made his promise. He would never, under any circumstance, allow his comrades to be put into danger again. Not by his brother, or anyone else who dared raise a hand against them.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Hello peoples!

Thank you once again, to all those lovely, kind souls who review for me!  
>To Zelga Lim Li, nope, no generational leaps in the romances of this story. If you think you've really go me nailed on a couple that'll end up together, feel free to PM me, and I'll let you know (^_-).  
>To Hugo0974, Glad to hear from you, and hope this chapter satisfies.<br>To Your Hoshi, thank you for the compliment, you make me blush (^/^).  
>To firehottie, I'm glad you liked the multiple POVs. I've missed writing them, honestly. Very addicting, yes they are! Also, I've been making multiple little changes that'll snowball later on throughout the story. I think if you look, you'll find the most obvious breakthrough with Sasuke in this particular chapter. Hope you enjoy it!<br>To Zandamh, Glad to hear you enjoyed the last chapter so much. Gaara really is cuddly deep down, once you get past the whole 'shuukaku-driving-him-insane' thing. I thought he needed more hugs, so I decided to work it in. Hope you enjoyed this most recent chapter, though I'm afraid Gaara will be sadly absent for a while. And since I have apparently robbed you of study time, I do pledge that I shall cross my fingers for your exam results!  
>To Ceralyn, Yep, kept the toads! I love them dearly you know. Besides, I'm really interested in how the relationship between them and Naruto would develop if he was female. Also, hope you enjoyed Sasuke and Saburo's reaction to Narumi's fight with Gaara. I've tried to make the rivalry there less self-destructive so...it sort of turned into a comedic moment...<br>To Bored and Sleepy with Waffles, thank you once more for the very thorough and helpful encouragement and appreciation never fail to put a smile on my face, and word at my fingertips. Since you seem to have a busy time ahead of you, I give you a thousand thanks for the most wonderful reviews you have already given me, and wish you a productive and gratifying summer. I'll be looking forward to hearing from you in the fall!

**Notice: The ayes have it! Quite literally in this case. Since I had not a single negative result on the poll, the explanations will be a permanent part of the story structure. Many thanks to you all for the feedback!**

Explanations!  
>First off, Kakashi basically pretty much had a conniption over his students running off to do not-genin level dangerous things. Which is why, as soon as he can justify it, he pretty much dumps things on Gai and takes off running. Of course, when he and Shibi do bring their kids back safe and sound, they still have jounin duties to attend to to help deal with the aftermath. Which pretty much leaves Sasuke and Saburo to watch over the girls on their own. Which is why when Narumi later wakes up, the two boys are the ones waiting for her.<br>The reason the boys both sort of gang up on Narumi, is that they saw exactly what Gaara could do, and hearing that she ran off after him from Tenma, they were actually more scared than either she or Kakashi. Which resulted in the instant 'what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-you' reaction.  
>As for Sasuke's reaction to Narumi defeating Gaara, he does take that as a sign she's getting stronger than him. However, he's much more devoted to his teammates, and doesn't always believe he always has to be the best. Plus, after hearing what most of the genin were doing during the attack, he feels suitably gratified about his own actions. So instead what he focuses on his disbelief that an all-out beat down devolved into a hug-fest. And of course, his reaction goes accordingly, which nearly devolves into a pillow fight.<br>Of course, then the boys have to break the news about the Hokage to her. And like Naruto, Narumi was very close to him, so it hits her hard. The boys decide that letting her sleep is the best solution, and continue to stand guard over her and Shinako, which really comforts Narumi and helps her get to sleep.

Then of course there's the funeral. The reason Narumi is able to comfort Konohamaru and spring back so quickly is because she thinks about what she said to Gaara. When she said that he couldn't be erased after he made friends, she meant that no matter what happened to him, the people he was dear to would always remember him. Carry out his dreams, protect that which was precious to him, and if necessary avenge him. Once he had bonds, he would inevitably leave something behind no matter what happened, and therefore his existence was impossible to completely erase. This of course, also applies to the third, which comforts her.

Saburo also has a bit of a flashback to his interaction with his parents and elder brothers since the invasion. Basically, because his parents still view him as a child because he's twelve years old, as do his elder brothers (respectively eighteen and sixteen). They're all very civilian, and don't really get exactly what life is like for him until the invasion, at which point they're both horrified and terrified. So they insist that he return to a 'safe' civilian life. However, at this point, Saburo is a proud shinobi of Konoha. He has already been through danger with his comrades, and is considered a young adult and full shinobi in the eyes of the village. He's not a twelve-year old, he's a successful genin who made it all the way to the final part of the chuunin exam and was only excluded for medical injuries.  
>So, going from being a full shinobi fighting for his life and his village alongside his comrades to 'we-are-pulling-you-out-young-man' was a huge point of contention within the family. Also, when Saburo said he'd leave home, he wasn't being foolish. He is legally able, as a genin, to live independently on his own, just the same as Narumi and Sasuke. The option is becoming more appealing, because he's becoming less and less comfortable with his family and their conflicting view point.<p>

Saburo and Shinako! Saburo admires Shinako for going to help his teammate and is grateful to her. He also become attached to her while he and Sasuke are on 'guard-duty' and thinks she's rather pretty in her own way. So, he decides to invite her along, gets embarrassed when he holds her hand, and prays to the heavens that his teammates won't embarrass him in front of her. No, he is not head over heels in love. Yes, he is attracted. No, he does not realize that's what it is. Inori will most likely enlighten him though.

And of course, Sasuke! When Sasuke takes off after Narumi, unlike in cannon, he's more focused on the '...coming after Narumi' part than the 'Itachi...' part. Sasuke has mellowed out much more in this story than in cannon. So when he catches up, his first instinct is to get Narumi away from the threat, rather than to attack. Sasuke's determination to protect being greater than his desire to attack, he decides to retreat with Narumi and allow Jiraya to fight. But there is a conflict inside him, which is why he nearly rises to Itachi's bait.

Now, as to the Tsukiyomi incident. I'm assuming that given the genjutsu is completely and utterly under Itachi's control that he can pull in multiple people at once. The reason he does this with Narumi and Sasuke is that he is wanting to feed Sasuke's desire to kill him, because he has the idea that he ought to be killed by an Uchiha. He brings Narumi in for two reasons. One, he wants to try and split up the friendship a bit, and two, in case of an event like what ends up happening. He thinks by harming Narumi, and threatening her life in front of Sasuke, the vengeance/kill instincts will kick in.  
>What actually happens is that Sasuke's protective instincts kick in, like double hyper papa-bear Kakashi mode. Only reason he lets go of Narumi afterwards is that it's a crazy powerful ninja who just protected them. Otherwise, you could probably forget it. There is probably quite a bit of trauma there, but you'll have to wait and see how it unfolds.<br>Oh, and the reason Jiraya didn't break them out of it, and spare them both the trauma of a)being tortured for twenty-four straight hours, and b) being forced to watch such events helplessly, is because tsukiyomi takes place in at most forty to fifty seconds of real time.

Also, to the Itachi fans. Don't get me wrong, I love Itachi too. I'm not trying to paint him as the incarnation of all things evil. However, you've got to admit that however good a guy he turned out to be, he did some bat-shit crazy stuff in the beginning of the series. Including excruciating mental torture, which he applied to those he later claimed were his comrades and/or loved ones, such as Kakashi and Sasuke, for extended periods of time, even when it wasn't really necessary to maintain his cover. I love the guy later on in the story, but he is MESSED UP in the first part. Which we are in. So yeah, he's kinda disturbing here. Once again, I apologize to the Itachi fans. Just hang in there with me, kay?

Okay, so that's it! This chapter was a bit shorter than usual, but it would have been ridiculously long if I'd gone into the next set of events. So, I hope you guys enjoyed this! If you have any questions about anything, drop me a line and I'll answer as promptly as I can manage. Please read and review!


	15. Godaime

Narumi surged up into a sitting position, chest heaving as she gasped for air, eyes flicking frantically around her. Before she could panic, she saw Jiraya get up from where he'd been squatting on the other side of the fire. The older shinobi walked over, threading his fingers through her hair, his big hand entirely covering the top of her head as kind black eyes fixed on her.

"Relax, you're fine."

Narumi stared mutely back at him, eyes wide. The last thing she remembered was intense pain accompanied by a sense of coldness spreading through her gut, Itachi standing over her with a blade that dripped strange white liquid, and the sound of Sasuke screaming.

Still uneasy, she looked down at herself. The bottom of her shirt hung in ragged shreds, revealing a swath of crisp white bandages wrapped snuggly around her torso. Her hands were similarly bandaged, though much more lightly. Drawing in a shuddering breath, she fixed her eyes on Jiraya.

"Where's Sasuke? Is he alright?"

Jiraya's eyes softened and he held out a roasted fish on a wooden skewer. Withdrawing his hand, he sat back and watched her as she hesitantly took the food.

"Eat, it'll make you feel better."

Scratching the back of his head with a sigh, the white haired sannin sat back on his heels.

"Sasuke's safe. I sent him back to Konoha."

Narumi's eyes widened, chest tightening as she stared at the older shinobi in dawning horror.

"By himself? But Itachi-!"

Jiraya shook his head, voice gentle.

"Easy kiddo. Not by himself. He's with Maito Gai. And I sent Itachi and his fish friend running. They won't trouble him on his way back to the village."

Sighing, the blonde relaxed and took a bite of the fish, chewing slowly, eyes fixed on the ground. She was relieved Sasuke was safe, but she couldn't repress a shudder as her thoughts shifted to his brother.

Jiraya saw the motion, and cocked his head questioningly at her. But he let her be, and turned to smother the fire and set about breaking camp. By the time she'd finished her fish, he was done.

Standing, he jerked his chin at her beckoningly. Blinking, Narumi scrambled to her feet, snatching up her travel pack from where it lay beside her, and tossing it over her shoulder. When Jiraya walked off, she followed him quietly, eyes on the ground.

As they walked, she thought. Will she, nill she, the flash of a dark sword, red eyes, and the milky spray of her own blood flooded her mind and refused to leave her. Another shudder ran down her spine, and her hand went to her stomach, alternately clenching and smoothing the shredded remains of her shirt.

Sasuke's screams of protest still rang in her ears, and ghost pain occasionally lanced through her, a faint shadow of the white hot agony that had accompanied the blade that had buried itself in her midsection so many times in the dark world of tsukiyomi.

Scowling suddenly, Narumi snatched her jacket closed and zipped it up. She hardly ever wore it that way because the off the shoulder collar felt odd when it was snug, but she wanted to hide the bandages that served as a reminder of the akatsuki members.

"Ero-sennin?"

The big man looked over his shoulder at her as they walked, expression inquisitive.

"Will Sasuke be alright?"

Jiraya ran a hand through his wild hair with a sigh, eyes troubled.

"Physically? Yes, he'll be fine. But only the two of you know what happened inside tsukiyomi, so I don't know about his mind."

Dark eyes flickered over her uncertainly, and his voice was careful.

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

Narumi hesitated, biting her lip. She didn't really want to tell him about it, but she was worried about Sasuke. She thought he was probably worse off than her. She had been terrified, and the pain had been so bad she'd wished for the first time she were the sort of girl to faint.

But while she was sure that she'd have nightmares for ages, she had also never forgotten that none of it was real. Narumi was nothing if not stubborn, and she had been quite determined not to give Itachi whatever it was he wanted. That had kept her firmly grounded throughout the pain.

Sasuke, on the other hand, was different. Maybe it was because Itachi had showed them the massacre of his clan first. And Narumi knew in her gut that that was what the nuke-nin had been doing. But whatever the reason, Sasuke's desperation and panic had been far and away beyond her own.

"I...we..."

Swallowing hard, Narumi forced herself to start over.

"Itachi...he showed us the Uchiha massacre. And..."

Abruptly, she decided that the details could be edited out.

"...he used me to upset Sasuke. Attacked me while Sasuke was immobilized."

Jiraya's eyes were sharp, but he didn't question her too much farther.

"So then, how did the boy seem while you were inside the genjutsu?"

Narumi shrugged, wrapping her hands around the straps of her travel pack and readjusting it between her shoulder blades. At least Jiraya wasn't questioning her too deeply about the events of the genjutsu.

"He was screaming."

And that was the crux of the matter. What had her really worried. She'd never, not once, seen Sasuke really lose his cool. Even when he got angry or upset, he still remained reserved and somewhat aloof, in control of himself. The perfect example of a shinobi according to the rules pounded into them by the academy teachers.

Jiraya gave her a long, hard look. Then he smiled slightly, waving a hand at her as if to dismiss her concerns. Somehow, the movement was reassuring. Chuckling slightly, he spoke to her in a light tone.

"Don't worry about it. He'll be fine. Kakashi'll set him straight."

Narumi blinked at him, and then relaxed entirely. Of course. Kakashi-sensei would make sure that Sasuke would be alright. She should have realized that from the moment that Ero-sennin said he'd sent Sasuke back to the village.

Jiraya shrugged and turned back to face the road ahead as they walked, still speaking to her cheerfully.

"Plus, the person we're going to get is a medical specialist. If Sasuke really needs some sort of special attention, there'll be no one better to take care of him than Tsunade. I should know, seeing as she was my teammate when we were genin."

Narumi grinned in relief and pleasure, knowing that a medical specialist would do all her comrades a lot of good right now. She felt her grin spread, thinking excitedly of Lee's reaction if she could bring back someone who would help heal his leg and arm.

But now that that worry was dispelled, another thought that had been lurking in the back of her head was suddenly able to take the forefront. Her brows drew together and she frowned slightly. The more she thought about it, the more uneasy she became.

"Ne, Ero-sennin? Why did they come after me?"

Jiraya looked back at her again, seeming slightly surprised. Then his expression turned grave and serious. Stopping in his tracks, he turned to her, a breeze tossing the wild spikes of his white hair as he moved.

"They're not really after you. They're after what you carry."

Narumi blinked, eyes widening. Her hand lifted to fist in her jacket, fingers twisting through the bright orange fabric covering her abdomen as she glanced downward. The gesture dimly reminded her of the way she'd seen pregnant women in the village caress their swollen bellies, her own touch a twisted and grotesque seeming parody.

"But Ero-sennin...Kyuubi is the monster that the yondaime died to defeat right? He's dangerous and everyone is afraid of him, even now. Why would they want it?"

Even as she asked the question, her mind raced with possible answers. Maybe they wanted to use Kyuubi, the way Suna had wanted to use Gaara as a weapon. It wasn't such a far-fetched idea really. A stupid one as far as she was concerned, but if Suna could come up with it, why not someone else?

Jiraya regarded her, dark eyes intent and serious.

"I'm not exactly sure what they're planning to do with the Kyuubi. But they probably want to control it's power for themselves."

Ice flooded her belly, and she swallowed hard. So she was right then. They wanted her to be like Gaara. Staring down at her own hand, she thought about Gaara, about how desperate he'd been when she'd fought him.

Jiraya's voice came to her as she stared down at her hand, feeling something beginning to spread through her chest, leaving hot tightness in its wake.

"It's cruel that you have to deal with it so young, but this is the fate of jinchuriki. Still! I'll protect you so-"

Ignoring him, she looked up and released her jacket, propping her hands cheerfully on her hips and grinning broadly up at him.

"Then I need to become stronger!"

Jiraya blinked down at her, obviously surprised. Pumping one fist in the air, she squinted her eyes closed, her grin spreading so wide it actually hurt her cheeks.

"Alright, let's find this Tsunade person, and start training!"

Jiraya chuckled, shook his head slightly and continued on down the road. Grinning brightly, Narumi hurried after him. Things would be alright. Next time she encountered Itachi, or his fishy friend Kisame, she'd be ready.

* * *

><p>Sasuke tightened his grip, hands clamping down hard on Saburo's shoulder and wrist as he pivoted, slamming the other boy back first into the ground. The rosette choked, the yelp in his throat dying soundlessly as the breath was pushed forcefully from his lungs, leaving him struggling for breath.<p>

Not missing a beat, Sasuke released Saburo's shoulder, whipped out a kunai, and brought it to rest gently at his teammates throat, the razor sharp edge pressing against the skin, but not breaking it. Saburo went cross-eyed, straining to catch a glimpse of the weapon under his chin without moving his head.

Carefully, he tapped his free hand against the ground, obviously not wanting to speak for feat the movement of his throat would draw blood against the blade. Sasuke huffed, blowing a stray strand of black hair out of his eyes, and smirked, withdrawing the blade, and stepping back.

Saburo glared halfheartedly up at him, grumbling under his breath as he rolled to his feet. Sasuke ignored him, settling back into a combat stance as he tucked his shuriken away into his weapons holster. Saburo stared at him in stunned dismay, mouth hanging slightly open.

"You can't be serious."

Sasuke frowned slightly, voice purposefully taunting.

"What's the matter, Haruno? Tired already?"

Saburo's jade eyes widened as he spluttered indignantly, waving his arms wildly above his head.

"Of course I'm tired! We've been sparring all afternoon! Any normal person would be tired by now!"

Sasuke straightened, and wished that it was as easy to rile Saburo as it was with Narumi. If he could only manage to provoke the other boy into another spar, they could continue with training. Just as he opened his mouth to deliver another hopeful jibe, Kakashi's voice rang out smoothly.

"Alright you two. That's enough for today."

Sasuke looked up in surprise even as Saburo whooped and pumped his fists in relieved victory. Kakashi slouched forward, hands tucked casually into his pockets, the orange book absent from his hands.

Kakashi regarded both boys for a moment, before smiling brightly.

"Saburo-kun, why don't you go on home. We'll meet back here tomorrow."

Saburo blinked in surprise, then nodded cheerfully, and sprinted back towards the village proper, bypassing the main road to bound through the trees of the deserted training grounds designated for genin use.

Sasuke didn't glance at the receding figure of the rosette, instead keeping his eyes warily fixed on the silver-haired jounin watching him quietly. Uncertainly the Uchiha shifted. Kakashi had woken up a day and a half after Maito Gai had brought Sasuke back to the village. So far, Sasuke had refused all counseling, and point blank refused to give details of the events that had taken place within tsukiyomi.

As frustrating as it might be for the jounin and iryo-nin who had questioned him, by village law only his jounin-sensei, the jounin commander, or the hokage himself could order Sasuke to speak about something as trivial as the details of a genjutsu. Since Shikaku Nara was loathe to involve himself in such a troublesome matter, and the hokage hadn't summoned Sasuke, he'd gotten away with his silence.

However, he had a feeling Kakashi was going to put an end to that. While he'd left Sasuke to his own devices for the past couple of days, the Uchiha had an ever increasing sense of tension, as if the man were only waiting for the proper time to begin interrogating him.

For several moments, the two of them just stood there, twin obsidian gazes locked as student and master regarded one another. Then Kakashi tilted his head slightly to the side, the gesture intentionally disarming as he offered Sasuke a concession.

"We need to talk, Sasuke. Would you like to go somewhere a little less public?"

Sasuke recognized the gift for what it was. Kakashi would not ask him to talk about an obviously difficult and possibly painful topic in a location where he felt vulnerable or exposed. He was letting Sasuke at least choose the environment. Home ground advantage.

Gratefully, Sasuke nodded. When Kakashi waved his hand lazily in encouragement, the young Uchiha leapt away, closely followed by his jounin-sensei. Skirting the edge of the village, he came to the lands held by the Uchiha compound, and headed for his favorite spot. The dock where his father had taught him his first Katon jutsu.

Kakashi followed him silently, pausing as they reached the dock. Sasuke looked back, and watched him in confusion as the man's lone dark eye flickered over the still waters of the lake and the aged wood of the dock, his expression odd.

"Kakashi-sensei? Are you alright?"

Kakashi blinked and shook himself, the strange loneliness of his expression melting away as he strode past Sasuke and perched himself on the end of the dock.

"Aa, sorry about that. I'm fine."

Sasuke slowly followed after him, pulling off his sandals to dangle his feet in the cool, dark water and eyeing Kakashi suspiciously.

"Are you sure, Sensei?"

The jounin chuckled, leaning back on his hands in an utterly relaxed pose.

"Yes, I'm sure."

He hesitated, as if thinking about something, and then spoke in the same light tone as before.

"This place just happens to have...a lot of memories for me."

Sasuke blinked, confused by the statement. This was Uchiha land. How could it have memories for Kakashi-sensei? Even before the massacre, when the clan was still large and thriving, few people had ever come here. It had always been Sasuke's sanctuary.

"Memories?"

Kakashi nodded, his lone eye distant despite the levity of his tone.

"One of my genin teammates, my best friend, was an Uchiha. He liked it here. Whenever we had to be on time for something, I'd have to come and find him, and he was usually here."

Sasuke blinked, thrown for a moment by the idea of Kakashi-sensei helping someone else _be on time._ Disconcertedly, he wondered just how bad this teammate of his sensei was, and briefly wondered how they ever got any missions done. The Uchiha allowed himself a wave of sympathy for the poor soul condemned to such teammates.

Curiosity rising, Sasuke glanced at his teacher, watching as the jounin tilted his head back to look up at the sky. Then bitterness chased after the curiosity in a wave. Kakashi-sensei's best friend was an Uchiha. Clearly, he hadn't survived Itachi's murder of the clan. Yet another blood debt that could be laid at his elder brothers feet.

Clearing his throat, voice halting, Sasuke stared hard at the dark water before him, doing his best not to look at his teacher as he spoke.

"The massacre...Itachi, he..."

To his surprise, Kakashi's voice was quiet and even. The sober tone belied the apparent calm that seemed to suffuse the jounin's aura as he replied to the unspoken question and accusation in Sasuke's halting attempt at speech.

"No. No, he died a long time before the massacre. You hadn't even been born yet then."

Sasuke started, obsidian eyes flying to his teacher in surprise. He wasn't sure why, but somehow he felt relieved that his brother was responsible for his Sensei's grief. Kakashi must have sensed his confusion, because he continued speaking matter-of-factly.

"Obito was killed on a mission during the Third Great Shinobi War. I was only a little older then than you are now."

Reaching up, he tapped two fingers lightly against the worn metal plate of his hitae-ate where it rested over his eye.

"Bit of a black sheep for your clan, but he was a fine shinobi and a better friend. I'd lost my eye during the mission, and he'd activated his sharingan. He died protecting me, and he gave me his sharingan."

Sasuke started, eyes wide as he hung from every word. Uncertain, feeling both a little horrified, and a little awed, he gestured awkwardly towards the jounin, wishing desperately that Saburo were still here. The rosette was so much better at public relations work than he was.

"So then, that's..."

Kakashi nodded slightly, apparently unperturbed by the conversation.

"Obito's eye? Yes. I like to think he's watching the world with me through this eye."

Sasuke stared openly, struggling to process that. How was he supposed to react? He'd known perfectly well that Kakashi's sharingan was not naturally occurring of course. After all, sharingan only manifested in those of Uchiha blood, and always in both eyes, so Kakashi's was clearly not a matter of heritage. But this was beyond anything he'd ever imagined.

Suddenly it wasn't hard at all to imagine a young Kakashi fighting alongside a faceless boy with black hair like his own. He thought about what it would be like to lose a teammate, and sickness roiled through him.

Part of the reason he trained so hard recently was because it was all to easy for his thoughts to be drawn back to the world of the tsukiyomi when his mind was still and idle. It was frighteningly easy for him to picture Narumi or Saburo dying during a mission, leaving him behind.

Perhaps that was the reason why this new revelation seemed like such a shocking discovery. Like finding out that his ties to Kakashi ran deeper than he'd ever imagined. Layers building on layers as the years passed, events from before he was ever brought into the world shaping his connection with the people around him.

Swallowing, he hitched one shoulder up awkwardly. It suddenly feels wrong for him to be keeping his secret from Kakashi-sensei. After all, this all affects Narumi as well. If no one else has the right to know, surely their other teammates do.

And besides, Kakashi has just exposed what Sasuke can sense is a deep wound. He doesn't fully understand the import of this revelation, but he knows it must have cost something for Kakashi to tell him. The expression flickering over the older shinobi's face is to similar to his own when he thinks about the massacre for him to delude himself otherwise.

So he gathered up his courage in both hands, forced his face into the most reserved mask he could manage, and hoped that his self control would hold for this conversation. Tilting his head forward slightly so that his bangs swung forward to shield his face as he began to speak.

"He beat me there you know. Itachi."

Kakashi's listening silence was soothing as the two of them sat side by side, and Sasuke narrowed his eyes, determined to get this over with.

"After I heard that he was after Narumi, I tried to get to her first. But when I finally caught up with her, Itachi and his partner were already there. I tried to get her away from them, but we got caught."

His eyes drifted out of focus, the world in front of him going slightly blurry as his attention turned inward, his voice a shade too calm.

"Itachi somehow pulled us both into tsukiyomi at the same time. It was just like when I was little, the massacre happening all over again. Narumi tried to help me, tried to remind me it wasn't real."

Frowning slightly, he remarked on something that had been bothering him for a good while, ever since he had first calmed down from the initial flush of panic and adrenaline accompanying the hours after his release from the genjutsu.

"She was smaller than I remembered. I didn't realize she was so small when we were in the academy."

Shrugging uncomfortably, he pushed on.

"She must have upset him, because after that Itachi..."

This was the hard part, the part that he could barely choke out. It felt as if speaking the words aloud would call back the nightmare visions of the genjutsu, and he'd be helplessly watching his brother commit atrocities against his teammate once again.

The dark waters of the lake suddenly looked far too familiar, a ghostly overlay of an ever-spreading pool of white atop the surface causing a shudder to run down his spine as he lifted his eyes quickly to the trees on the opposite shore.

"He killed her, Sensei. I-I watched him kill her... over and over. I couldn't make him stop"

His voice broke and he dropped his chin to his chest, a familiar toxic brew of fear, guilt, and anger spreading through him as he tried to banish the memory of the bloody black sword.

"I'm so sorry, Sensei! I...I didn't mean...!"

A strong arm wound around his shoulders, squeezing faintly in a gruffly comforting gesture. He went still and quiet as Kakashi's voice filled his ears. The jounin's voice was strong and steady, though there was a deadly undercurrent beneath it that reminded Sasuke how dangerous his teacher could be to his enemies.

"Enough, Sasuke. It's not your fault."

Uncertain, the boy hunched one shoulder.

"But-"

Kakashi's firm voice cut him off decisively.

"Do you think I am weak for being unable to escape tsukiyomi?"

Shocked, the Uchiha whipped around to stare wide eyed at his Sensei. There were certain things that were fixed and unchangeable as far as Sasuke was concerned. Saburo would always be a walking encyclopedia, Narumi would always be up for a good spar, and Kakashi-sensei was definitely one of the strongest jounin in the village.

"Of course not!"

Kakashi chuckled at the indignant tone of his students voice, his obsidian eye curving upwards with the width of the affectionate smile hidden beneath his mask.

"Then why are you being so hard on yourself?"

Sasuke blinked, mouth going slack in confusion as he stared at the jounin, brow wrinkling as he attempted to make sense of the sudden change in the conversation. Kakashi seemed amused by his speechlessness, though his voice remained relaxed and unchanged.

"Sasuke, you are a genin. You were caught in a genjutsu by an S-rank nuke-nin while attempting to protect your comrade. Not only did you pull through as well as, or better than, could be expected, you retained your consciousness and continued to cover your teammate."

After a short moment, Kakashi ruffled the Uchiha's hair gently, taking pleasure in the indignant scowl that flashed across the boys face. As Sasuke batted away his hand and attempted to smooth his hair back out, Kakashi leaned back, resting his weight on his arms.

"You're not weak, Sasuke. No matter what you think. You're just young. You'll get stronger, all three of you."

Sasuke muttered something incomprehensible, brightening slightly at the praise. Merriment laced Kakashi's voice as he spoke again, repressed laughter bubbling through his words.

"But please, try not to run Saburo to death. He's going to snap and poison your food or something soon."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and huffed, but made no other acknowledgment. Then he glanced uncertainly at the jounin, tentatively trying one last question.

"Kakashi-sensei? What about Narumi and Itachi?"

The older shinobi shot him another smile, though this one had a bit of an edge to it.

"Leave that to me."

Rising to his feet smoothly, Kakashi looked at Sasuke, and then glanced back over his shoulder to where the tops of the Uchiha compound walls were just visible over the trees. After a moment, he turned back and extended his hand to his student.

Sasuke took his teachers hand, scowling suspiciously as Kakashi hauled him up. The jounin jerked his chin towards the road, voice calm.

"Well, let's go then."

Sasuke cocked his head, snatching up his combat sandals and hopping from foot to foot as he shoved his feet back into them. After a moment, he hurried after his teacher as the man headed back up to the road.

"Where are we going?"

Kakashi waved a hand lazily without turning to look at him.

"To get some of your things. You'll be staying with me until Narumi get's back to the village."

Sasuke stared at the older shinobi, mouth working silently for a long moment before he managed to force sound from his mouth.

"Why?"

Kakashi lifted an eyebrow at him, looking amused and firm at the same time.

"Sasuke, you've just suffered a severe psychological attack, and have spent the last few days doing your best to turn Saburo into a shinobi punching bag with pink hair. It's not healthy for you to be on your own right now."

Sasuke stopped moving, watching as Kakashi continued smoothly on towards the empty Uchiha compound. He groaned as exactly what was happening dawned on him.

'_Since Narumi's not here, I'm going to get two peoples worth of mother-hen treatment.'_

Suddenly thinking that he really was in desperate need of another spar, he sighed heavily and shuffled after his teacher. And he did not feel at all happy that someone cared enough to worry about where he was staying, and what was best for him. Nope. Not at all. Definitely not.

* * *

><p>Narumi frowned down at the tiny leaf symbol painted on the palm of her hand, gathering her chakra into a powerfully swirling maelstrom. As the wind stirred and whipped around her, tugging insistently at her clothing and hair, she tried to form and hold a wall of chakra around the destructive jutsu cradled in her hand.<p>

It wasn't long before her concentration slipped, and the ball of chakra burst outwards with a blast of wind that made her eyes water. Muttering irately, she glared mutinously at her now empty palm. Before she could summon her chakra in another attempt, she found herself walking straight into Jiraya's back.

Startled, she bounced back, dropping her hands to her sides and squinting up at the back of his shaggy white head.

"Oi, what's up with you, Ero-sennin?"

Without turning to face her, Jiraya spoke almost as if to himself, his voice low and serious.

"There should be a castle..."

With a quick flexing of muscles, he sprang up atop one of the stone walls that lined the roads near the castle, standing firmly atop the apex of the small roof, back straight and shoulders stiff. Alarmed, Narumi sprang up after him, landing lightly beside him without so much as a whisper of noise, wobbling for a moment before she found her balance.

When she lifted lifted her eyes, she saw what had caught his gaze and held his attention. The crumbling ruin of a half destroyed castle, the very one they'd been headed for in their search. People were running through the walled streets, faces pale as they cast anxious glances over their shoulders or towards the patch of empty sky where the great bulk of the castle should have risen.

Confused and alert for trouble, Narumi stared. She could still see the haze of settling dust clouds, thick and heavy with crushed wood and stone, hovering above the ruin. This couldn't have happened long ago.

"What happened here...?"

Jiraya hummed deep in his throat, black eyes dropping to lock onto a man scrambling along the road on the other side of the wall the stood atop.

"I intend to find out."

Drawing in a deep breath, he shouted down at the civilian man, voice commanding and authoritative.

"Hey, you there! What's going on here?"

The civilian in question stumbled to a halt, spinning to stare up at them, chest heaving. His eyes flickered over the flashing metal plates of their hitae-ate, before he opened his mouth. Panicked, the man shouted back his answer, wild-eyed with terror.

"There's a demon beast up there! It crushed the castle like it was nothing! You should run too, if you know what's good for you!"

Jiraya frowned slightly, cocking his head as he interrogated the shuddering civilian.

"This demon beast...what exactly is it?"

The man shivered violently, sweat dripping down the sides of his face as he regained his breath.

"A huge s-snake!"

Apparently this last bit of information exhausted his courage, because he whirled and charged blindly on down the street. Narumi blinked, and called sharply after him, her mind racing as she suppressed a shiver of her own at the thought of snakes. When the man didn't turn back, she faced Jiraya urgently.

"Ero-sennin, during the invasion there was a snake-beast attacking the village that-!"

The man turned grimly away from her, setting himself to race across the tops of the walls in the direction of the destruction. He answered her briskly, obviously unhappy about something.

"Narumi. This snake...it's definitely the same snake you met before."

Narumi started, blue eyes widening, and then narrowing. That...was not good. She swallowed hard, and then gritted her teeth and set her jaw. If this was the same snake, that meant that Orochimaru had something to do with whatever had happened here. And that set her on edge.

Taking a deep breath, she followed after her master, catching up to him quickly as they headed back into the city, away from the site of the attack. Narumi frowned, and thought about questioning their direction, before realizing that by now Orochimaru would no longer be at the site of the attack. Added to that, they were supposed to be finding that medical specialist.

Readjusting her pack, she sighed. There was no way she could train the third stage of the technique Jiraya had been teaching her while they were traveling this way. She'd miss her footing on the first leap.

* * *

><p>Narumi followed Jiraya wearily down the street, mournfully wishing she were back at Ichiraku's with a large, steaming bowl of ramen sitting in front of her. She could almost taste the savor of the miso in her mouth. Jiraya glanced back at her, then looked around before changing course and heading towards a nearby pub.<p>

"Oh well. Looks like we won't be finding Tsunade today, so we might as well just have dinner."

Narumi blinked, and looked back and forth between the white-haired shinobi and the establishment they were aproaching, voice uncertain and more than a little suspicious.

"What? But isn't this place a pub?"

Jiraya shrugged, rummaging through a pocket as they neared the shop in question, his tone distracted.

"Aa. What's your point?"

Spluttering, the blonde swept an arm expansively through the air in a wild gesture.

"I can't go in there! I'm a kid! And I'm a girl! What's wrong with you, Ero-sennin?"

Jiraya turned slightly red, looking over at her as if seeing her for the first time. Then he shook his head firmly, and snorted derisively.

"Fool, places like this are the best source of information."

As he stepped up to the entrance, he moved a little closer, and rested a large hand atop her head in a protective gesture, the scent of oil, ink, and steel flooding her nostrils. When he spoke, his voice was soothing.

"Don't worry, I won't let you get into trouble."

He turned away from her as they entered the bar, muttering under his breath in such a low tone of voice that only her exceptionally sharp hearing allowed her to decipher the words she was doubtless not meant to hear.

"Anyway, Kakashi'd kill me if I let something happen to you..."

Suddenly his slanted black eyes widened, fixing on something at the bar. His expression went slack, a dopey grin slithering across his face as his cheeks flushed bright red. Narumi frowned and followed his gaze. A very beautiful woman wearing a very, very short dress sat at the bar. She glanced over, met Jiraya's eyes, and smiled coyly, brushing a lock of short red hair behind her ear and trailing her fingertips lightly down the line of her jaw.

In an instant, the big shinobi was across the room and leaning on the bar beside her, a flirtatious smile on his face as he leaned over and spoke to her in a smooth, deep voice.

"Why hello there. What might your name be, miss?"

Narumi's jaw dropped and she stared, round-eyed as the woman giggled slightly, leaning forward onto her arms so that her breasts were pressed together and up in a very provocative fashion. When she spoke, her voice was light and breathy.

"Hey, handsome. They call me Yume."

Jiraya's eyes got a starry look to them, and his smile broadened.

"Yume, that's a beautiful name. It fits you wonderfully. Did you know it means 'dream'?"

The woman fluttered her lashes at him, leaning a little closer, one manicured hand landing lightly on his shoulder.

"Really? I can tell you're a man of the world. That's very..."

Squeezing his shoulder lightly, she let her eyes fall to half-mast.

"...impressive."

Jiraya threw back his head and laughed a little too loudly. Narumi snapped, a vein pulsing dangerously in her temple as she stormed over to the embarrassing scene. Snatching the back of Jiraya's belt with both hands, she planted her feet and threw her weight backwards, heaving ineffectually at his back.

"ERO-SENNIN! What's wrong with you?"

The woman shot her an annoyed glance that quickly turned coy, tossing her head and laughing lightly as she shot Jiraya a knowing look.

"What a cute little girl. She's absolutely charming. Your sister?"

Jiraya laughed loudly again, looking pleased at the implication that he didn't look old enough to be the father of a thirteen year old. Narumi glared up at the woman, vaguely recalling one of the kunoichi instructors at the academy warning the girls to never dress in clothing that was too skimpy, lest they be seen as a hussy rather than an attractive kunoichi of Konohagakure. The term seemed to apply here, seeing as the woman was draping herself quite shamelessly over a man she'd never met. She turned beet red as the woman leaned forward a little more, her dress riding up to reveal a flash of black lace underwear.

"I'm NOT cute, and I'm not a little girl either! Ero-sennin, come on!"

When the man waved distractedly at her, she despairingly wished that Kakashi-sensei were here. No matter how perverted those books of his were, she couldn't picture him ever bringing team seven to a place like this. An idea struck her at the thought of her sensei, and she reared back, sucking in a deep breath before shouting at the top of her lungs.

"ERO-SENNIN! I'M TELLING KAKASHI-SENSEI ON YOU!"

The bellow was so loud that the woman flinched away, scowling and pressing a hand to her ears, and Jiraya jumped, looking faintly alarmed. Before he could answer, a surprised voice came from behind them.

"Jiraya?"

Both of them froze and looked over their shoulders.

The voice belonged to a blonde woman sitting far back at a booth alongside a darker haired woman looked up at the call, her brown eyes a little unfocused looking as she frowned over at them, her attention drawn by the volume of Narumi's displeasure.

Jiraya's eyes widened, and he called back in a startled voice, face still slightly red as he stepped away from the very disgruntled looking woman he'd previously been speaking with.

"Ah! Tsunade!"

Clearing his throat and straightening his jacket, the big shinobi waved a hand beckoningly at Narumi, before he turned to face the newly identified Tsunade. Ignoring the way Narumi rolled her eyes at him, Jiraya walked over towards the booth where the two women sat, Yume apparently forgotten. Narumi sighed heavily and trailed after him.

When they reached the table, he addressed Tsunade, his voice gruff but relaxed as he slid into the seat opposite the pair sitting side by side, and Narumi scrambled into the seat beside him.

"How have you been Tsunade?"

The blonde woman blinked slowly at him, looking more than a little confused as she eyed him.

"Fine. You're still womanizing I see."

Furrowing her brow, she leaned forward onto the table.

"Why are you here?"

Jiraya shrugged slightly and flashed her a mysterious smile.

"To find you of course. We need to talk."

Narumi's eyes shifted back and forth between the two of them, confused and exasperated, her irritation over the incident with 'Yume' fading. She specifically remembered Jiraya saying that he and Tsunade had been on the same genin team, which ought to mean she was an old woman. But the person sitting at the booth was young and beautiful.

Tsunade didn't look older than twenty-five, her long hair was pulled back into a girlish style of low twin-tails, and was a shade of pale ash-blonde that was less pure than Inori's, but far paler and duller than Narumi's own. The bangs that framed her face were parted in the center, revealing a blue diamond in the center of her forehead.

She wore bright red lipstick like Kurenai-sensei that contrasted sharply with her pale hair. Large, long-lashed brown eyes stared blearily at the pair of them from a flushed face that showed just how much sake the woman had been drinking before they arrived.

And just looking at her voluptuous figure made Narumi want to hunch her shoulders and hope the bagginess of her jacket hid her own undeveloped figure. The younger kunoichi had always been proud of her strength and lean, athletic body that allowed her to keep up with the boys. But being in Tsunade's presence made her wish she were older with curves.

Hastily, she shifted her gaze to the other woman, who was much less intimidating. Dark hair that was barely past her chin hung jaggedly around her face, flopping down into black eyes, and she wore a long black and white yukata. A fat pig wearing a vest and necklace was held in her arms, its eyes squinted closed.

Narumi blinked and looked over her, before realizing why she looked familiar. If Sasuke had a sister, this would probably be what she looked like. Pale skinned, dark, and serious looking. Though, Sasuke's sister would look more aloof, and definitely wouldn't carry around a pig.

A waiter came up to the table, and Jiraya nodded to him once.

"Two plates of pork buns, a beer, and a glass of milk for the kid."

Narumi yelped indignantly, staring up at Jiraya. But before she could say anything, he smacked her gently over the back of her head, voice scolding and slightly outrageous.

"Milk is good for you! Kids should drink milk!"

She scowled slightly, but she was interrupted once again, this time by Tsunade. She lifted a finger, blinking slowly up at the young civilian standing beside their table.

"Make that t-"

A violent hiccup interrupted her, forcing her to speak again.

"...two beers."

Narumi lost her train of thought, trailing off as she looked uncertainly at the busty blonde. This was the great medical specialist that was supposed to be such a great asset to the village? She looked up at Jiraya, but he shook his head at her.

So she just slipped her travel pack over her arms, and slid it down between her feet, rolling her shoulders to loosen them. Beside her, Jiraya leaned forward, bracing his arms on the table and nodding to the two women across from them.

"Tsunade. Shizune. Good to see you again."

Tsunade chuckled hoarsely, folding her hands in front of her face and dropping her gaze to the empty sake cup in front of her. Shizune glanced at the inebriated woman, and then nodded back to the big man across the table.

"Jiraya-sama. Who is this?"

The white-haired man smiled widely at the two of them, dark eyes knowing as he tilted his head towards the genin beside him.

"This? Her name's Narumi Uzumaki."

Both women looked up at him, and Shizune's eyes sharpened slightly as their gaze flickered briefly to her. Narumi stared back at them, confused. Jiraya ignored the odd moment, continuing on and drawing their attention back to him.

"She's Kakashi's student."

The waiter came back with a platter of food and drinks, and they fell silent for a long moment while he sat everything down in front of them. When he left, Narumi picked up her glass and took a drink. Milk might not be what she'd wanted, but she was hungry and thirsty, so it didn't bother her all that much.

Picking up a bun, she bit into it, watching the adults as she munched on the savory chunk. Jiraya took a long swig of his beer, matching Tsunade as she tilted her head back and chugged. Jiraya set his down first, watching Tsunade's throat work as he spoke.

"So, how have the two of you been?"

Tsunade chuckled, dropping her glass to the table, and looking at the table with morose amusement. Narumi blinked and polished off her bun, gulping down another swallow of milk, and reaching for another bun.

"Today...I met someone. Someone who brings up bad memories."

Jiraya breathed out slowly, black eyes hard and brow furrowed. His voice was caught partway between concern and something that Narumi couldn't identify.

"Orochimaru? Did anything happen?"

Tsunade and Shizune exchanged a glance, and then Tsunade dropped her eyes again, her voice oddly mild and level for someone who still had the flushed, glassy-eyed countenance of the somewhat drunk.

"Just a little greeting. Nothing to worry about."

The big man merely looked at her, not replying to her statement. Unnerved by the tense atmosphere smothering the booth, Narumi watched them with wide-eyes, unconsciously eating faster and with larger bites.

Tsunade leaned against the table, her expression and voice oddly subdued. She didn't bother to meet her old teammates eyes as she spoke, a slight slur entering her voice.

"You too...why did you come to see me?"

Narumi took another large bite of a bun, listening intently as she ate. Jiraya leaned forward a bit more, his dark eyes serious.

"I brought you a message. Konohagakure...has issued a request for you to be the fifth Hokage."

Narumi's eyes bulged and choked on her bite, desperately snatching at her glass of milk and trying to force the obstruction down her throat with that. Shizune and Tsunade didn't look any less surprised, both of them fixing wide eyes on Jiraya. As Narumi worked to clear her throat, Jiraya continued, his voice grave.

"As you know, Sandaime-sama..."

His voice trailed away and both women dropped their gazes. Shizune looked upset, but Tsunade merely stared blankly into her drink, watching the slow swirl of the golden-brown liquid as she replied quietly.

"It was Orochimaru's work, right? He told me."

Narumi stared at the woman hard, brow furrowed. It had been hard enough to picture the buxom drunk as the expert medical specialist that was supposed to be capable of healing even Lee's extensive injuries. But no matter how she thought about it, she couldn't see this woman in Jiji's robes and hat. It would be...disrespectful.

Jiraya was apparently immune to the growing tension hovering around them, or the strange atmosphere that enveloped the table, because he merely continued on calmly, his eyes never leaving Tsunade's face.

"So, your answer? Are you willing to accept?"

Tsunade's face contorted strangely, her brows drawing together and her lips tightening unhappily. She looked almost as if she were pained. Her hands clenched tightly around her arms, and she refused to look up and meet the steady obsidian gaze fixed on her.

"Impossible. I decline."

Narumi's eyes widened, and she stared at the other woman in shock, unable to process what she'd just said. The shock snapped her out of her daze, and she stared indignantly at Jiraya.

"Hold on a second, Ero-sennin! You said we were coming to get her so she could take a look at Sasuke-teme and Lee! You never said anything about asking her to be our Hokage!"

Jiraya waved a hand lazily at her in a manner that was probably supposed to be reassuring. With a slow drawl, he addressed her, his eyes finally leaving Tsunade.

"Don't worry so much. This person here is the only one who can become the Godaime. She assured Konoha's victory in many battles during the Second Great Shinobi War, and her medical techniques are unmatched. Also, she's the granddaughter of the Shodaime, Hashirama Senju. She's definitely the person most appropriate to be the Godaime."

Smiling slightly, Jiraya inclined his head forward a little as he looked at her, his voice teasing.

"And if she becomes Hokage, she'll have to come back to the village. Which means she'll be taking a look at those two."

Lifting his eyes to the ceiling of the little establishment as if in great thought, Jiraya rubbed the back of his head and mused aloud.

"Probably Kakashi too, now that I think of it. After all, he got caught in tsukiyomi too."

Tsunade chuckled, brown eyes fixing on Narumi for an uncomfortable moment.

"A girl this time, Jiraya? What on earth possessed you to take a girl as an apprentice? She really can't be compared to your last student."

Narumi bristled indignantly, lips curling back in a snarl. Before she could say anything, Jiraya interrupted with a friendly grin.

"Well, it's tough for anyone to be compared to the Yondaime. After all, he had the talent, the brains, hell even the looks!"

Narumi's indignation melted away, wide eyes flickering back and forth between the two of them. Yondaime-sama? Ero-sennin's last student was _Yondaime-sama? _It was one thing for the big man to know the Yondaime's technique, even if it was one that no one else could use. But to have been his teacher...

Tsunade scoffed slightly, her tone sharp and abrasive.

"But even that Yondaime died quickly. Giving up his life for the village so soon after becoming Hokage..."

Narumi turned back to the older woman, her face twisting into a dark scowl. Tsunade was really beginning to make her angry. She had always admired the Yondaime, and she didn't like the way Tsunade was talking about him.

The drunk woman chuckled, her eyes scornful as she looked up at the two ninja sitting on the opposite side of the table, her voice going derogatory.

"Life is different from money. It can't be gambled with that easily. Whoever puts it at risk so easily is definitely a fool."

Shrugging carelessly, she smirked over the table at the big, white haired shinobi.

"Grandfather and Nidaime-sama both focused on bringing peace to our home more than anything else. But as a result, the just died in the middle of their dreams, like losers."

Narumi ground her teeth sharply together, blue eyes narrowing as her body tensed. White-hot anger coursed through her veins as thickly as blood, and her world narrowed down to the cocky, self-absorbed woman across the table. She didn't care what the village elders or Jiraya said, this person had _no right_ to be called the Hokage.

Jiraya's voice remained light as he replied to her, though the humor had left it at Tsunade's bold statement.

"You've changed a lot, Tsunade. Is everything you just said what you really think?"

Tsunade shrugged, that same cocky smirk still quirking at the corners of her lips as she eyed the other Sanin.

"Well, I'm already in my fifties. Age changes people."

Leaning forward so that her sizable chest was pressed into the table, she chuckled harshly.

"It's the same for Sandaime and Yondaime, you know. No wonder they died. One too old to live his dreams, and the other young and stupid enough to throw away his life for them."

Jiraya's expression suddenly took on a dangerous edge, but Narumi was too angry to notice. Her entire body trembled with the desire to shut up the mouthy woman who sat across from her. She'd never wanted so badly to just hit someone. She'd wanted to fight people before certainly, but right now she just wanted to shove her fist down Tsunade's throat.

"Being Hokage is a bunch of bull. No one but a fool would do it!"

Narumi snapped. Enraged, she slammed her hand down into the table, and made to vault over it, lunging for Tsunade. In midair, a large hand grabbed her by the back of her jacket, and yanked her back, holding her in her seat by force.

Struggling to get at the seemingly impassive women, Narumi growled in frustration. Throwing herself forward, she fought to reach Tsunade, never bothering to shift her eyes from the bland face of the ash-blonde.

"Let go of me, Ero-sennin! She can't talk about Yondaime-sama and Jiji like that! She can't talk about our Hokage! I absolutely can't forgive her for that! Just you watch, I'll make her regret mouthing off about them!"

Jiraya's voice was low and even, though it had lost all trace of levity, and his fingers tightened in her jacket, pulling it a little tighter across her shoulders.

"Calm down. You do realize we're at a bar, right?"

Tsunade scoffed, brown eyes satisfied as she smirked at the younger blonde who was practically foaming at the mouth to get at her.

"Please. I'm one of the legendary Sanin. I wouldn't even have to use more than one finger to beat up a little girl like you."

Narumi wasn't even aware of Shizune hissing at her mistress, or Jiraya's stern gaze. Her whole world narrowed down to an intense need to force this person to take back her insults and admit that she was wrong.

"I don't care how legendary you are, I'll still kick your butt! I won't forgive anyone who insults the Hokage's, especially the fourth!"

There was a long moment of silence, wherein Narumi glared at Tsunade, and the adults eyed her with varying expressions. Then Tsunade stood up, and leaned over the table, lips curling up into an unkind smile, eyes flashing as she went eye to eye with the younger blonde.

"You've got a lot of guts to say such things to me, little girl. Let's see if you can back it up."

Narumi bared her teeth defiantly at the woman, cracking her knuckles in anticipation. If it was a fight Tsunade wanted, it was a fight she was gonna get. Shizune scrambled up from her seat, moving out of the way as Tsunade swept out of the booth, dropping some money on the table before striding out the door.

Jiraya sighed gustily, but released Narumi's jacket, allowing her to follow the older kunoichi out of the bar. He and Shizune grabbed the travel packs, and trailed after the two of them as they wound through the streets until they reached one that was wide and deserted.

When Tsunade was satisfied with the location, she turned to face Narumi, lifting one finger with an inelegant snort.

"Well, I said I'd beat you with only one finger, so I will. After all, it would be silly for someone like me to fight seriously against a green genin like you."

Snarling, Narumi plunged a hand into into her weapons pouch, snatching up four shuriken.

"Shut up!"

Launching two of the shuriken at Tsunade, she forced the older woman to dodge to the side. While Tsunade was preoccupied with that, she created a Kage Bunshin and used henge to transform into a shuriken.

The clone snatched her up along with an ordinary shuriken in one hand, hiding the second in the other hand which dove back into her weapons holster, concealing the replacement of the real shuriken by drawing out a kunai.

In that split second, Tsunade charged towards the clone, brown eyes intent. The clone flung both Narumi and the shuriken towards her, and Narumi felt the brush of long strands of hair over her sleek surface as Tsunade dropped below the path of her flight.

Dodging beneath what she thought was a weak attack, Tsunade surged into arms reach of the clone. In an apparently wild attempt to trap her, the clone flung the Kunai over her head, and then brought her leg up in a vicious kick that swept up in an attempt to hit Tsunade from below.

The sanin easily twisted out of the path of the kick, and shot her hand forward, the single extended finger strengthened with chakra so that it threw the clone backwards and into the air as easily as Kakashi had during the bell test.

As the clone flew in the air, Narumi hurriedly released the henge, spinning through the air and landing in a sliding crouch, hand shooting out to grab the kunai from the air. As soon as she had a good grip on the weapon, she spun it in her grip, and shot towards Tsunade's back, blade raised.

The clone hit the ground, plowing painfully across it at the same moment that Narumi began to move. When it dispersed in a cloud of smoke, Tsunade's eyes widened, and she whipped around with a glare.

Swearing to herself, Narumi slashed at her with the kunai. Tsunade avoided the blow, and spread her stance wider, dropping her center of gravity. The same finger she'd used to throw the clone struck out and upwards with the speed of a snake, slipping through the ring of the kunai that lay flush against Narumi's wrist, and stabbing into the flesh.

Pain flashed up Narumi's arm, and her hand spasmed as she bit out a yelp. As her rebellious fingers loosed the kunai, Tsunade spun it around into her own grip and lunged upwards, standing straight and forcing her arm up.

The hilt of the kunai slammed into the bottom edge of the protective metal plate of her hitae-ate. The force of the blow threw her head sharply and painfully backwards as the knotted cloth at the back of her head came undone a moment after the force transferred to her skull.

The familiar weight and warmth of the hitae-ate left her forehead, baring it to the cool night breeze as the object was hurled upwards. Instinctively moving with the momentum of the strike to lessen the strain on her body, Narumi threw herself into a back handspring, swearing as she righted herself.

"Kuso!"

Her eyes widened slightly as she found herself looking right at Tsunade's hand, her pointer finger curled back against her thumb. Before she could react, the finger snapped out, striking her in the center of her forehead. The force of the blow snapped her head back again, and threw her body back threw the air in an arc that mirrored her clones earlier flight.

As she hurtled through the air, Narumi dazedly wondered if the other blonde was trying to give her whiplash. When she hit the ground, she forced herself to roll to her feet, and glared furiously at Tsunade, one hand pressed tightly against her forehead.

She knew that the skin wasn't broken, or the blood would have already been dripping into her eyes, but her body was not so sure. The sensation of phantom blood sliding wetly over her skin was irritating.

The most infuriating thing though, was that she could tell Tsunade was holding back. After all, anyone who could throw someone into the air with a finger flick to the forehead would surely be able to give you a concussion with the same attack. And yet, Narumi's skin wasn't even broken.

And right now, in this fight, to not take Narumi seriously at all was the same thing as continuing to dismiss and scorn the memories of the four Hokages. The men whose honor Narumi was so desperately trying to defend.

Beside her, her hitae-ate clanged sharply to the ground, leaf symbol gleaming softly in the flickering light of the lanterns that lined the street. Narumi stared at it, appalled. She hadn't had her hitae-ate ripped from her like that since the battle with Zabuza, and he was nuke-nin. She did her best to ignite the cocky woman across from her with the pure anger in her gaze. Was nothing sacred with this hag?

Tsunade watched her with an odd expression. After a moment, she called out to Narumi in an odd tone of voice, her cocky smirk absent for once.

"Hey kid. Before you pass out, I want to ask you something. Why do you get so worked up just over the word 'Hokage'?"

Narumi lifted her chin and squared her shoulders, a fierce grin spreading across her face as she met glazed brown eyes with her own strong blue gaze.

"Because I'm not like you. I will succeed the Hokage name, and I will protect my comrades and my village, 'ttebayo! Because that's my dream."

Disregarding the strange expression on Tsunade's face, she lifted her hand in front of her face, fingers curved in an almost claw-like fashion. Her other hand shot forward, snatching at the air around her other hand as she summoned up the maelstrom of her chakra.

Tsunade fell back a step, eyes widening in shock as she stared down at the genin in front of her. Narumi shot forward, cocking back the arm that held the whirling storm of her chakra. Tsunade lifted her arm, and before Narumi could figure out what she was going to try, she was already moving.

The woman struck the earth, and for a moment Narumi couldn't understand what she was trying to do. But then, to Narumi's shock, the earth beneath her split open. She stumbled as she fell into the deep, ragged ditch that had been created beneath her, pitching forward and slamming her technique into the ground at Tsunade's feet.

Curving chakra blades swirled out, slicing and carving the rock and earth where she'd struck the ground with her hand into the winding spiral pattern that she was still working on moving beyond. Bitter disappointment flooded her, but she had to ignore that and focus on catching herself in her fall.

Throwing her other arm out, she spread her limbs and wedged herself against the walls of the gap, and hauled herself out onto the solid ground beside it. Shizune hurried forward and knelt beside her as she coughed for air, rubbing her back soothingly, voice worried.

"Are you alright?"

Narumi sucked in a breath and made as if to answer, but was interrupted by Tsunade. Her cocky, scornful smirk was back in place, and she was half turned towards the big man, one hand braced on her hip.

"Jiraya! Was it you? The one who's teaching her rasengan?"

Jiraya shrugged slightly, voice cool and calm.

"I'm her master in principle."

Tsunade snorted, her opinion on that made startlingly clear even before she spoke. At this point she'd completely dismissed Narumi, her attention focused solely on Jiraya.

"The only people that can use that jutsu are the Yondaime and you...even if other people could do it, she's a kunoichi. Her chakra reserves and battle potential are lower than a boys would be."

Scoffing, the curvaceous woman shook her head, eyes mocking.

"Teaching her something she cannot do and encouraging her like that just because you believe you're her master. It's better if you don't let her think that way, so the silly child doesn't joke about foolish dreams like becoming Hokage."

Narumi ignored the concerned figure of Shizune beside her, teeth grinding together so hard that it was painful. Frustrated anger roared through her, feeding into her determination and the whirling gears of her mind.

"Idiot! It's not a joke!"

As Tsunade turned an irate sneer on the younger blonde, Narumi hit on the one thing that would definitely wipe that cocky, condescending look off of her face. She'd prove Tsunade wrong, wrong about everything she'd said tonight.

"All I need is three days, and I can master that technique 'ttebayo! Just you watch me!"

Tsunade stared at her, expression sure and confident, completely unaffected by the younger kunoichi's declaration.

"Those are some words, little girl. Ninja shouldn't take back their words, you know."

Narumi met her gaze determinedly, voice steady and determined.

"I don't take back my word, ever! That's my nindo!"

Tsunade's smirk became almost predatory, and she reached up to finger the cord of the strange necklace she wore, the long green crystal that depended from it flashing in the orange light of the lanterns.

"Well, is that so..."

Something about her tone gave Narumi pause, and she frowned up at the woman in confusion, not understanding why she was playing with her necklace at a time like this.

"I'll give you one week. If you can master that jutsu in that time, I'll acknowledge you could become the Hokage, and I'll give you this necklace."

Shizune started, shouting in surprise.

"Tsunade-sama!"

Narumi blinked at her, thoroughly confused now. Did she really come across so girly that Tsunade thought she'd have to be bribed with jewelry to finish training with a technique. She couldn't decide if she were more confused or insulted.

"I don't want it..."

Jiraya's dry voice broke into the conversation.

"Don't say that Narumi. It's a very special necklace that belonged to the Shodaime."

Tsunade smirked, and lifted the heavy, round form of Narumi's wallet.

"But if you lose, I get to take all your money."

Narumi yelped in horror, thrusting a finger accusingly at the confident woman, now sure that Tsunade was some sort of incarnation of evil.

"Gama-chan! You pickpocket, you kidnapped Gama-chan!"

Shizune scrambled to her feet, heading over to Tsunade and speaking in an urgent voice.

"Tsunade-sama, your necklace..!"

Tsunade shrugged, tucking Narumi's wallet away with a small smile.

"Heh. It doesn't matter. It's not like she can win anyway."

Turning on her heel, she beckoned to the dark haired woman, her voice free of slurring despite the bright flush of alcohol that still remained on her cheeks.

"Let's go."

Jiraya called out to his old teammate, halting both women in their tracks.

"Tsunade, can we have a drink together? It's been awhile..."

Tsunade looked over her shoulder at him without saying anything, and the big man turned to the other two kunoichi present with a light, reassuring grin.

"Shizune, you and Narumi go find a hotel to stay at for the night, okay?"

Shizune hesitated, and then dropped her head with a defeated expression, muttering her assent. Jiraya walked over towards them, pausing to bend over and scoop something up from the ground. When he reached them, he dropped one hand lightly on Narumi's head for a moment, and pressed her gleaming hitae-ate into her hand with the other.

"Be good and go to bed quick, kiddo."

Then he turned and walked over to fall in stride beside Tsunade, who had turned away and continued down the street. Narumi frowned after them, flaring her nostrils and taking in a deep breath, trying to catch their scent. Her face twisted with disgust when the only thing she caught was the strong scent of different alcohols mixed together. The sharpness of sake, and the heavy, rank odor of beer.

Tsunade's liquor habits provided an effective mask for blinding her nose, and Narumi suddenly realized why the Inuzuka never publicly made clear just how strong their sense of smell was. A trick like this would be hard to counter, and probably often played if your enemies knew you were relying on their scent to follow them and figure them out.

She watched the two of them walk away until Shizune brushed her arm lightly. When she looked up at the dark eyed woman, she found her looking tired and worn, the pig she'd held before still enfolded in her arms as she met the younger girls eyes.

"Narumi-chan, wasn't it? We should find that hotel."

Narumi nodded quietly, scooping up her travel pack where Jiraya had dropped it, and slinging it back over her shoulders. Adjusting it briefly, she followed in the steps of the older woman. She'd have to leave this entirely to Shizune, since her wallet was currently being held captive.

It wasn't long until they reached an inn set a bit back form the main part of town, slightly out of the way. It had reasonable prices, and Shizune readily paid for both rooms. Narumi was quietly relieved that she had, seeing as there was no way of knowing when Ero-sennin would return.

As the two of them trudged up the stairs towards the second floor, Shizune glanced at her, and then softly put forth a question.

"Narumi-chan, would you care to have a bath with me? The innkeepers wife told me that the sento is on the third floor."

Narumi yawned, but nodded gratefully. She'd love a bath, one nice long soak in hot water would be heaven.

"I'll meet you there, Shizune-nee-chan."

Scampering over to the room assigned to her and Ero-sennin, she unlocked the door and slipped inside. Flicking on the light, she pulled the curtains across the window, and dropped her pack on one of the beds.

Quickly, she shed her clothing, folded it, and placed both her clothes and gear neatly on the bed alongside her pack. Wrapping herself in the yukata provided by the inn, she stepped into a pair of slippers meant for wear around the inn, and tucked the key into her sash.

Stepping out into the hall, she headed back to the stairs, unbraiding her hair and shaking it loose as she went. When she reached the third floor, she stuck her head out into the hall and looked around. Lighting up when she saw the doors at the end of the hall, she moved out into the corridor. One was curtained with a cloth bearing the character for 'woman', and the other for 'man'.

Heading into the women's section, she slipped out of the yukata, storing it in an empty basket along the wall, and heading into the actual bath. She sighed in contentment when she saw the large soaking pool.

Scrubbing down as quickly as she could, she dove straight into the pool, surfacing and shaking her head vigorously. Her wet hair slapped against her shoulders and cheeks as she slicked her hair back with one hand.

Settling down into the water, she looked up as the door to the dressing area slid open and Shizune walked in. She was wrapped in a towel, and smiled tiredly at Narumi. Narumi lifted a hand and waved cheerfully at the older kunoichi.

"Hurry up, Shizune-nee-chan! It's great in here."

Shizune laughed a little, and cleaned off quickly before joining Narumi in the water with a deep sigh. Leaning back against the wall of the pool, she watched as Narumi swam in slow circles.

Looking over her shoulder at Shizune, she grinned cheerfully.

"You know, Shizune-nee-chan, you look just like my teammate...only he's a guy, and a bastard."

Shizune blinked at her, cocking her head curiously.

"Really? And who is that?"

Narumi snorted, lifting a fist above the water.

"His name's Sasuke Uchiha, and he's my rival, 'ttebayo!"

Shizune lifted a hand to cover her mouth, giggling slightly.

"An Uchiha, huh? Me?"

Narumi nodded emphatically.

"Yep."

Shizune shook her head, still smiling softly.

"You're a strange child, Narumi-chan."

Narumi shrugged, and brushed a lock of hair back over her shoulder where it had swirled forward to caress her collarbone. Shizune's smile faded away, and she hunched her shoulders slightly before speaking in a tentative voice.

"Narumi-chan? There's something I want to talk to you about."

Narumi blinked and settled into the water, turning to face Shizune fully, eyes attentive.

"Alright, what is it?"

Shizune looked down at the water, looking uncomfortable and tense, like whatever it was she wanted to talk about was bothering her.

"I just don't want you to misunderstand Tsunade-sama. Also, that necklace is..."

Looking away, Narumi set her shoulders, the tension that had washed away in the hot water of the bath charging her spine once more.

"Feh! What do I care about that old hag?"

Shizune's head snapped up, and her voice was tight and angry as she barked at the younger kunoichi.

"Tsunade-sama isn't like that! Don't talk as if you know her!"

Narumi bristled, eyes narrowing slightly.

"She's the one who shouldn't be talking! I don't care how she is, she can't talk about our Hokages like that!"

Shizune's jaw tightened, and for a long moment they stared hard at each other. Then all the steel went out of Shizune's spine, and she slumped lower into the water until only her neck and head were above the slightly steaming surface of the pool.

"...I'm sorry, I shouldn't have lost my temper with you."

Narumi huffed, but relaxed as well, indicating that she would keep listening to whatever it was that Shizune wanted to say. It took the older woman a moment to collect her thoughts and start speaking again, and when she did, she didn't look up from the surface of the water.

"Before, she wasn't like this. She loved the village. But...things changed."

Narumi frowned slightly, inhaling deeply. Shizune's scent was twisted with grief, longing, and sorrow. She must be feeling awful.

"What happened?"

Shizune narrowed her eyes slightly, her expression hardening slightly.

"She lost everything she ever held dear. All of it."

Before Narumi could ask her to elaborate on that statement, she lifted her black eyes to transfix her audience of one, voice firm and authoritative.

"Also, about that necklace. To Tsunade-sama, that necklace is as important as her own life. It's not something that should be carelessly bet on..."

Narumi stiffened at the veiled accusation, and her voice was even despite the heat of her tone.

"Then she shouldn't have wagered it. Anyway, isn't she the one who said the Hokage's were foolish for giving up their lives for the village? The very least she can do is back that up with something important."

Shizune looked a little desperate, her voice rising slightly as she leaned forward in the water.

"It's not something you should have! That necklace is cursed! It doesn't acknowledge anyone but Tsunade-sama. Anyone else who wears it will die."

Narumi stared at her, and Shizune looked away.

"Tsunade-sama gave it to her little brother on his birthday. He was killed in battle on his very next mission. After that, she gave it to the man she loved. He was also killed in his next battle."

Shizune looked more distressed as they continued to speak, and Narumi seriously doubted that the bath was helping her relax at all, given the conversation she insisted on having.

"Tsunade-sama's fiancé was my uncle, so I know. That necklace steals the life of anyone but Tsunade-sama."

Taking a deep breath, she lifted her eyes grimly to the genin's face.

"Can you understand now. Ever since the death of my uncle, Tsunade-sama has been struggling."

Narumi eyed her levelly, and then stood up, back straight as she left the pool and snatched up her towel, wrapping it around her body and tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear as she went. Shizune watched her, bewildered.

"Narumi-chan...?"

Narumi cast a cool glance back at her, one hand resting on the door to the dressing room.

"I have to go to sleep now, or I won't be able to get up early for training tomorrow."

With a civil nod to her senior kunoichi, she opened the door and left the bathing room, closing the door behind her and shivering as the cool, dry air of the dressing room crashed over her, a stark contrast with the hot, damp atmosphere she'd just left.

Shaking her head, she began drying herself, mind already turning to the problem of her training. She had one week to master the rasengan. One week to pound some sense into Tsunade's head so that she could return to the village. It had already been far too long since she had left her home.

* * *

><p>Tsunade leaned against the stone wall, eyes fixed on the tumbled stone of the crumbled section across from her where she'd smashed her fist through it last week. So much had happened since that encounter with the darkest of her old genin team.<p>

Her mind flashed back to the exhausted figure of a small girl laying in bed, body battered and exhausted from overly intensive training, golden hair splayed wildly across the crisp white pillow.

Inwardly she scolded herself. She'd pushed to hard, been to harsh with the girl. Demanding the impossible from her, knowing she couldn't do it, intentionally trying to wrench her away from her fixation on becoming Hokage. It was far too easy for her to see Dan and Nowaki in the child, despite her gender. The bright, strong spirit was far too similar for her to be unaffected.

She sighed, leaning her head back against the wall, eyes sliding closed, stilling her mind and spirit. Even without opening her eyes, she sensed the approach of a familiar chakra signature. So achingly familiar, one of three that had been her constant companions throughout her childhood and genin days.

But that signature was tainted now. Dark, cold, and frightening, it echoed menacingly across her senses, causing the hairs on the back of her neck to stand up, and her chakra coils to shiver. It called out to her, like a festering wound or an illness, but she could not heal her old friend of this.

Orochimaru's strained voice called out to her, quiet and laced with pain. She could practically hear the exertion in his oily tone, knowing how difficult it must be for him to be out and about in such a condition. Somewhere, in the very back of her consciousness, the naive genin she used to be cried out for him. Tsunade stomped that voice out.

"...the answer is?"

Pushing away from the wall, Tsunade turned to face him, keeping her face turned towards the ground, she forced her voice to work, the pain of the betrayal she was about to commit ripping through her, twisting cruelly through her center.

"I will heal your arms. In exchange, leave your hands off the village..."

There was a moment of silence, and then Orochimaru's rough, cocky chuckle echoed across the space between them, his usual mask of overconfidence covering the tightness of his voice.

"Heh heh...alright then..."

Lifting his trembling arms towards her, Orochimaru ground out in a state of excited anticipation.

"Now...quickly..."

Tsunade could see them so clearly in her mind. A tall, handsome figure with impossibly smooth silver hair that glittered in the sun, and a small boy with eternally flushed cheeks and a cheerful grin. They were right there. Right there waiting for her.

Tears welled up in her eyes, burning hot as they slipped down her cheeks, leaving dark trails of running mascara that arced down her cheeks in a mocking parody of Jiraya's markings. Slowly, so slowly, she lifted her dull brown eyes to the yellow-green gaze of her crazed ex-comrade.

The two of them walked towards each other, steps measured and even. When they stood right in front of each other, Tsunade searched the depths of his eyes for any trace, any spark or remnant of the kind, reserved, pale boy she remembered. But there was nothing.

Orochimaru extended violently shaking arms towards her, the white of the bandages even paler than his own skin. She looked down at the weak limbs that barely obeyed his commands, and detachedly noted that Sarutobi-sensei had done a hell of a job on him.

Lifting her hands, she summoned her chakra, the green glow that covered her hands throwing an eery light across her features, reflecting in her dark eyes as a cold fire. She never hesitated, reaching out towards him.

In the instant before she touched his hands, a kunai sailed between the two of them, causing her to let go of the chakra she'd been gathering, and leap backwards to distance herself from both the attack, and the man towards whom she'd been reaching.

Throwing a glance to the side and up, she spotted the gray haired shinobi who seemed to be Orochimaru's underling perched on the wall watching them with grim, hard eyes. Leaping down behind his master, the teen braced himself. The three of them stood in a rigid, brittle silence. Orochimaru's voice crashed through the quiet, shattering it irreparably.

"What is this... To have come this far and betrayed me, Tsunade!"

She glared coldly across at him, bitterly wishing that she'd had a moment more. A moment more and she could have ended his pathetic excuse of an existence. Easily holding his gaze, she refused to give ground or be intimidated by him. She'd known him far too long for that.

Orochimaru snorted, his eyes both livid and betrayed as he stared her down. His voice trembled, and his expression was oddly vulnerable. She stared at him, wondering about the oddness of his reaction. Then it hit her. Of all their team, she was the only one who had yet to confront him since his betrayal of the village. The last to make an attempt on his life.

"How could you come to an answer like this, Tsunade-hime? To try to kill me..."

Shaking his head, his expression returned to the arrogantly dark smirk that seemed to have become his standard state of being. His voice lost that odd tremor, and he returned completely to normal.

"Tsunade...I really intended to revive those two...and I even promised not to destroy Konoha..."

Tsunade snorted, eyes pained despite the careless tone of her voice.

"You don't really think I can't tell when you're lying, do you? Not after how long we've known each other."

Her shoulders slumped wearily, and for a moment, she was brutally honest with both herself and him.

"But I loved them. I'd do anything to see their smiling faces. That's what I thought until I met that kid. But because of her, I remember now. Those two's dreams."

In her minds eye she could see their determined faces, all three of them. Each of them so radically different outwardly, but so alike in every way that was important. It was why the girl made her so uncomfortable.

That fire in her eyes was heartbreakingly familiar. And Tsunade knew that while such fire would never burn one who held the bearers affection, it's loss would leave you cold in your bones and blood, and frozen in your soul. Taking a deep breath, she braced herself against the memory of that fire, new and old.

"The dream that those two bet their lives on. Having those dreams come true was also my wish."

Drawing in a shuddering breath, she blinked the salty tears from her eyes, droplets clinging to her lashes as a pained smile pulled at her lips.

"You said that everything decays with time. But I remember now. Only these feelings of mine, and the feelings that were entrusted to me. They will never decay."

Scrubbing the back of her hand across her face, she wiped away the marks of her tears, ignoring the sakki swelling up around the dark form in front of her. Orochimaru's voice was low and menacing when he spoke to her.

"So, the deal is off...no choice then, I'll have to force you."

Sliding her eyes open, Tsunade gathered her chakra and her concentration. It was time for her to fight seriously. Launching herself into the air, she threw herself into a massive drop kick, her heel flashing down through the air towards Orochimaru's skull.

He narrowed his eyes, and sprang away onto a wall, leaving her to shatter the greater part of the street, leaving behind an enormous crater. Both he and Kabuto perched side by side atop a stand section of wall, before dashing off across the landscape.

Leaping after them, Tsunade snarled. She intended to kill that damn snake. Shedding her green coat, she let it flutter free of her hand, increasing her speed as she chased after them.

"I won't let you escape, Orochimaru!"

She chased them all the way out of town, and into the surrounding flatlands. When they finally turned to face her, they were standing among scattered boulders, both parties breathing hard with the speed of the chase.

The underling faced her, slipping out a soldier pill, and popping it into his mouth. She eyed him carefully as he began flashing through hand seals. It seemed that Orochimaru intended to have the adolescent shinobi fight in his stead.

With a last seal, the boy summoned chakra to flow around his hands in the style of attack favored by iryou-nin like herself. Tsunade's eyes narrowed, and smirk tugged at her lips. So this child was an iryou-nin too. But he did not have her experience or skill. She knew she far outclassed him.

Suddenly the boys hand exploded from the ground beneath her, snatching for her ankle. She yanked her knees up to her chest, bringing her feet high above his reach and twisting around with a snarl. Pulling her fist back, she sank a punching into the earth where the boy was buried, throwing in enough strength to shatter the rock beneath her.

The younger shinobi erupted from beneath her feet, dodging among the airborne rocks as she twisted to lash out at him with her foot. As she twisted through the air, he dodged, using shunshin to vanish and reappear behind her.

Alarmed at the unexpected turn of speed, she tried to twist around in midair. As she did, the boys arms struck out at her, slamming hard into her left arm and lower midsection. She grimaced as the lancing pain of a chakra attack on her muscles sliced into her arm and leg.

Planting her good leg, she slammed her shoulder into his chest, tossing him away from her as she stumbled to her knees. Alarmed, she glanced at her arm, the weakness in the attacked areas of her body startling her.

The boys voice came to her from where he stood a few yards away from her, his posture relaxed and sure. His voice was was a smooth, pleased echo of Orochimaru's cocky manner.

"I've cut your biceps and abdominal muscles. You won't be able to use that monstrous strength of yours."

Muttering under her breath, she eyed the boy warily.

"Chakra scalpels. Why aren't you aiming at my arteries?"

The boy shrugged, smirking at her.

"Unfortunately, during a fight I am unable to maintain a scalpel long enough and with precise enough control to penetrate all the way to your arteries and heart muscles. Well, as long as I aim for your neck, I should be able to manage."

Darting towards her, he lunged with an outstretched arm, hand glowing with the chakra scalpel. Snarling, Tsunade yanked her arm up in a block, guarding her vulnerable throat. Her eyes widened in alarm as the boys palm struck her chest dead center rather than trying for her neck.

Gasping, she fought for air, pain ripping through her as her chest heaved weakly. Choking out a curse, she spluttered.

"Kuso! You aimed for...the muscles around my respiratory area..."

Pressing a hand supportively to her chest, she wheezed for air, trying to use the pressure of her hand to help pump air in and out of her lungs. The boy shrugged, adjusting his glasses with one hand.

"Of course. It would be troublesome if you were to die now, when Orochimaru-sama needs you. But like this, you won't be able to move around."

Tsunade glared, shoving herself off the ground as he allowed his eyes to slide closed. With all the power she could shove into her legs, she flew towards him, good arm lashing out in a strike that connected hard with the back of his neck. She'd teach that insolent pup not to take her lightly.

The boy was thrown forward, skidding painfully across the ground. Her legs trembled and then collapsed under her as she fought the pain of her damaged muscles. The boy tried to stand, but her attack on his nervous system kicked in, scrambling the signals his brain was sending, and causing his body to twitch randomly when he tried to move.

Clenching her jaw, she forced herself to her feet again, and moved grimly forward, slamming her fist into his jaw, along with a burst of chakra that reinforced her earlier attack.

As the boy was thrown away, she pressed a hand to her chest, healing the muscles in her chest enough that she could breathe easily again. Grimacing, she realized that a complete healing would consume far too much chakra.

Meanwhile, the boy had moved to his knees, and was twitching again, dark eyes intent on her as he snapped coldly, the suave tone of his voice momentarily absent.

"Don't think that level of technique will defeat me!"

With that declaration, he yanked a kunai from his pouch. Tsunade's eyes widened, and she swore violently. He'd already figured out how to move a good bit of his body. The boy lunged towards her, and she flinched back. But with an explosion of smoke, Shizune, Jiraya, and Jiraya's young pupil Narumi appeared in front of her.

Kabuto halted his attack, and Tsunade stared wide-eyed at the backs arrayed in front of her. Orochimaru tucked his chin in slightly, a low chuckle flowing out in an oily spill of sound.

"Long time no see...Jiraya..."

Narumi spoke up, her voice growling, caught between confusion, and realization.

"Kabuto-san...?"

The grey haired boy Tsunade had been fighting slid his dark gaze to the slight blonde figure, his face expressionless.

"Narumi-chan..."

Tsunade's brown eyes widened in alarm. It was all too easy for her to picture the small, strong-willed girl going down under the chakra scalpels of the ruthless boy who'd sworn himself to her old comrade.

Suddenly desperate to finish the boy off as quickly as possible, she lunged past Jiraya, knocking him out of her way as she surged into an attack. Behind her she heard Jiraya cry out indignantly. But she had no time for that. There was a flash of metal as Kabuto moved to defend himself.

Sticky red liquid, coppery and bright splashed down over her, gushing from a cut in the boys wrist. She froze, her eyes widening as she brought trembling hands up in front of her eyes to stare at the flecks of color painting her fingers.

She stood there numbly, not regaining any awareness until something smashed into her chin, throwing her backwards. She stared hazily off to the side, vaguely aware of Shizune helping her sit up, draping her coat over her shoulders and wiping blood from her face.

Not long afterward, Shizune left her side, and she could hear the commotion of battle going on around her, but she couldn't seem to tear her senses away from the memory of that horribly bright red substance, and the way it had splashed across her skin.

Jiraya's firm voice brushed across her awareness. She didn't focus on it until her own name caught her attention.

"Tsunade...heal yourself."

Slowly, still trembling, she lifted a hand to her injured arm, her chakra coming to hover around her fingers in a soft, soothing green glow that had once been familiar, a source of pride.

She was still focusing on that sensation, and the need to repair the damaged tissues in her bicep when someone snatched her around the waist, dragging her through the air. Her concentration was interrupted, and she felt rocks pelting against her skin. Blinking, she distantly thought that perhaps she should care more about that.

When the hail of rocks stopped, she was deposited gently on the ground, legs folding beneath her as she almost mindlessly lifted her hand back to her arm. While she was focused on that, a warm drop of liquid splattered onto her cheek, jerking her back to awareness.

She stared as Shizune collapsed to her side in front of her, body limp and heavy with unconsciousness. Just across Shizune's still form stood Kabuto. Dan's niece. The sweet, serious girl who had no family other than Tsunade was heaving for breath, even after losing her awareness.

Not far beyond her, sprawled the small figure of Narumi, gold braid curling limply across the ground, strands still gleaming brightly in the sun, a sharp contrast to the dull brown of the dirt. She stared at the two limp figures.

It felt like she'd only charged a moment ago, but the trembling of her body, and the beaten state of the other two kunoichi told her that it had been longer than that. She'd lost to her fear. Again.

Staring at the two of them, she felt water well up and blur her vision. It was like Nowaki and Dan all over again. When Kabuto reached out towards her, his pale hand was clean, but all she could see was the dripping blood of those she held dear. Horrified, she struck his hand away, crying out in fear.

Kabuto curled his lip contemptuously, and slammed a kick into her ribs. A moment later, his hand crashed into her head. Dizzy, numb, and unable to make her body obey her, Tsunade clumsily lifted her arms to protect her head as the blows rained down on her.

Grunting irately, Kabuto pulled his fist back, and brought it whistling forward. Tsunade stared up at him, knowing this one would connect. Then, an orange clad figure stumbled between the two of them, turning and catching the blow squarely on the metal plate of her hitae-ate.

Tsunade blinked, and stared. Narumi had tilted her head forward to meet the older boys fist, negating some of the force. The girls snarl was rough and almost animalistic as she glared up at the surprised looking shinobi.

"I'll put an end to this, you bastard!"

Snatching at the air above one hand with the other, she summoned the Rasengan, a technique that Tsunade associated with Jiraya, and his brilliant, tragic young student Minato. The girl ignored the effect she was having on the woman she protected, lunging forward with a challenging roar.

Kabuto cursed, throwing himself to the side and lashing out with a chakra scalpel as he passed. Narumi's face twisted and she cried out as his hand connected with the outside of her thigh. She lost her concentration, the deadly ball of chakra above her hand dissipating as she crashed face first to the ground.

Tsunade's heart jumped into her throat as the girl sprawled across the ground, and then resumed beating as she braced a hand on her injured thigh and struggled to her knees. The younger blonde was panting, teeth clenched to hold back the muffled cries of pain that struggled to fight their way out of her throat.

Kabuto smirked at the struggling genin, his eyes cruel and hard as he eyed her.

"I put a crack in your femur bone by combining my snake strike with my chakra scalpel. Even after that you're still moving though...still you can't stand, and therefore you can't win."

The girl squinted one eye shut, baring her teeth defiantly at him as she dragged herself up into a crouch, muscles trembling from the pain that was undoubtedly burning through her thigh. Kabuto chuckled slightly.

"Afraid of me? Feeling like running away, Narumi-chan?"

Whipping out a card, he held it up, his smirk widening as he fixed his eyes on the bright haired genin. Tsunade watched in horror as his voice took on an exceptionally smooth, convincing tone.

"This is your card from the exams, isn't it Narumi-chan?"

The girl flinched, eyes confused as she stared at him silently. He continued without pause, apparently not requiring a response.

"You're nothing special, do you understand? It's a fluke you ever made genin. Despite that, with your exceptional spirit and willpower, it would be fitting for you to become Hokage. However..."

His voice trailed off for a moment, his eyes cool and threatening as he tempted the girl.

"...do you really think you can do that? To be a Hokage, is to be the best. And for that you need brains."

The gray haired genin tilted his head, his words oily smooth, dripping with sincerity and reason. Tsunade shivered. It would be so, so easy for the girl to listen to what he was saying. To give in to him. She herself had nearly done the same when Orochimaru had come knocking. And if Narumi gave in, Tsunade would be lost.

"If you want to grow up to be a true champion, to be a true Hokage, it'd be best if you ran."

Narumi's eyes slitted dangerously, her whole attention focused on the enemy before her. Kabuto chuckled again, lifting his hands in an expansive gesture.

"What's with those eyes of yours? That'll get you killed. And if you die here, you'll never attain your dreams, or anything else. That's why I'm telling you, if you were really Hokage material, you'd run now..."

Tsunade stared, eyes blank as a memory flashed through her mind. Her own voice telling Nawaki it would be best if he ran, for his own safety. Nowaki shouting indignantly back that she could not expect him to ever be so cowardly as to run from his enemy.

Reaching up, she wrapped her fingers tightly around the crystal of her pendant, the sharp edges biting almost painfully into her fingers. The girl snarled up at the older shinobi, eyes sparking dangerously as she shook her head.

Kabuto smirked, flashing across the distance to slam a foot hard into her ribs, knocking her onto her side. Tsunade sucked in a sharp breath, trying not to whimper as he spoke in a cold voice.

"Then die."

Rolling slightly away, Narumi forced herself to her feet, still placing herself between Tsunade and the enemy. When she looked up, her eyes were wild and defiant despite the state of her body.

"Not yet. I'm still on my feet...I'm not dead yet...!"

Kabuto stared dispassionately down at her, before backhanding her with a chakra scalpel, causing her to plow painfully backwards across the ground towards Tsunade. The sannin stared at her in horror, trying to speak. But her voice wouldn't work. All she could do was watch as the younger blonde struggled determinedly back to her feet.

A part of her wondered dimly if this was how Nowaki had died. Spitting fire and defiance even in the face of insurmountable odds, refusing to stay down or run away. She would like to think so, no matter how much the image tore at her heart.

Forcing away the overlapping ghost image of a small boy with messy brown hair, she focused on the bright girl in front of her, standing on trembling legs, entire body shaking as she fought to remain on her feet.

"Why? Why are you..."

Tsunade didn't notice that her own trembling had stopped as the girl addressed her in a halting voice, hands lifting into a cross shaped seal as she faced down an irritated looking Kabuto.

"Hey, old lady Tsunade...remember the terms of that bet? Now you'll have to give me that bad luck amulet of yours..."

A kage bunshin exploded into being beside her, and Tsunade started. Horror choked her as she looked on, feeling sick with dread. A kage bunshin at a time like this was a disaster. It would only give Kabuto an opening.

Forcing her voice to function, she cried out as Kabuto snatched a kunai and went on the attack.

"Not for my sake...! Narumi! Stop it!"

Kabuto ignored her scream, lunging forward with a mad look in his eyes as he hissed poisonously at the small genin in his path.

"For your insolence, I'll have you repent with your life!"

Tsunade's body seized up, tensing horribly even as she screamed desperately at the girls back, her thoughts racing frantically.

'_YOU'LL NEVER BE HOKAGE IF YOU DIE HERE!'_

"That's enough Narumi! Get out of the way! Run!"

Then Kabuto was on her, and blood flew into the air. Tsunade stared. Narumi had reached out and thrown her hand on the blade of the kunai, impaling her own hand and shoving it all the way down the weapon. Her fingers curled tightly around Kabuto's fist, holding him in place.

Both of their arms trembled and shook as the two strained against one another, testing their strength. Narumi's blood dripped from their fists in thick stream, but she was grinning fearlessly at Kabuto, her voice firm and decisive.

"Until I become Hokage, I refuse to die!"

Both the older ninja stared at the blue-eyed girl as she stretched out one hand to the clone, her eyes slitted and dangerous. Her growl was low and threatening as a storm of chakra blades whirled to life in her hand.

"You won't be able to escape from this one, traitor."

The clone dispersed as Narumi brought her arm up and shoved the technique towards Kabuto with a howl of victory, throwing all her weight into the blow as she shoved it into his gut.

Tsunade stared, stunned.

'_Thats...impossible...'_

And yet, she was looking at it with her own two eyes. Kabuto reached out and slammed his free palm into Narumi's chest, fingers twisting into her jacket as he was thrown violently backwards. The force of her attack ripped him away from her almost as soon as he struck, throwing him back into a boulder set about twenty feet away.

The force of the blow caused the rock to crack and crumble around Kabuto's body, and Tsunade stared. That was no half-formed technique. It was the full rasengan, as no Kunoichi should ever be able to produce. As no one but Minato or Jiraya ever _had_ produced. Great masters of the wind element had tried and failed to learn this technique.

And the genin in front of her had mastered it in a week.

Narumi was still struggling for breath, when to Tsunade's amazement, Kabuto struggled up from the debris he had created with the force of his impact. His torso was a bloody mess, but it was steaming oddly, and she could sense the chakra racing through it, healing it unnaturally quickly.

Even as she watched the enemy heal, Narumi suddenly stumbled, coughing up a burst of dark blood, and pitching backwards, sprawling across the hard ground. Tsunade suddenly found herself capable of movement, surging to her feet and springing to the side of the prone girl.

Looking down at the barely conscious genin, she realized something. Whipping around, she stared with wide eyes at Kabuto, her tone accusatory.

"You...you took that attack..."

Kabuto stepped forward, his torso sizzling as new skin began to form and spread across the raw wound carved into his torso.

"I collected my chakra in my abdomen when I saw her attack coming, and began recovering immediately by forcing all my cells to activate and create new cells to replace the damaged ones."

Drawing in a deep breath, he hunched slightly as the pink of new skin faded away to the natural pale shade of the rest of his body.

"This technique...looks like it's Narumi-chan's last gamble..."

He was cut off suddenly when a racking cough brought blood splattering out of his mouth to dribble over his chin in a slow, steady drip. His body trembled and he collapsed forward, his form wracked with shudders and coughs as more blood splattered across the stones beneath his mouth.

Tsunade ignored him as a weak cough brought her attention back to the young Konoha-nin before her. Leaning over hurriedly, she pressed an ear to the girls chest above her heart. The uneven thumping that she found was alarmingly weak and unsteady.

'_Kuso! The muscles of his heart are in bad shape! The heartbeat has already become weak and erratic...was that last move of Kabuto's an attack?'_

Shedding her coat, she shoved the loose edges of the orange jacket away, and coated her fingers lightly with a chakra scalpel, sliding them down the black shirt that Narumi wore beneath her jacket.

As she cut the fabric away to reveal the bandages wrapped around the genins chest, she pressed her palms tightly against the bare tan skin and crisp white of the bandages, healing chakra flaring up around her hands.

Kabuto laughed weakly from where he lay, his voice malevolent as he spoke to her.

"Heh...it's already too late for the wench. I've sapped the chakra in the coils running through her heart, and stopped the blood flow to her heart. You can't save her..."

Shoving away this manifestation of her own fears and doubts, Tsunade yelled desperately, her eyes intent on the helpless figure before her.

"SHUT UP!"

Staring down, she looked at the trails of blood running from the corners of Narumi's mouth, and the scratches, bruises, and cuts that littered her skin. Her eyes were closed, and Tsunade could all too clearly see Dan and Nowaki laid out on either side of her. Would Narumi become another person she'd failed to save?

Shoving more and more chakra into the healing, she worked frantically, chanting with singleminded desperation under her breath.

"Don't die...don't die...don't die!"

Slowly, a slender hand reached up, brushing against the flashing green crystal that hung from her neck. Tsunade froze, brown eyes almost disbelieving as the body beneath her hands came to life, and the fearfully still face turned to smile weakly up at her.

Unaware of the terrible relief flooding Tsunade's frozen body, Narumi croaked up at her.

"The..the bet...I won..."

Her golden head fell back, and her breathing evened out as her heartbeat steadied, and her body got on with the business of continuing to live. Slowly, ever so slowly, Tsunade's stunned expression relaxed, a single tear slipping from the corner of her eye.

Taking the child's impaled hand in both of hers, Tsunade let her chakra flow strongly into the wound, causing it to steam closed far more quickly than Kabuto's had. When she spoke, her voice was soft and gentle.

"It's your dream to become Hokage, so...just one more time..."

Gently, she laid the now uninjured hand beside the unconscious girl. Reaching up with one hand, she slipped the necklace over her head. With the other, she lifted the golden head, and slipped the necklace quickly around the slender tanned throat.

Drawing back, she carefully lowered the girls head back to the ground, caressing her cheek softly with one hand, and smoothing the green crystal against her skin with the other. When Tsunade spoke, her voice was fragile and hopeful, the smile on her face gentle.

"Now, I want to see you wear this..."

A loud crash and an explosion of rock nearby caused her to look up. Orochimaru was flying towards them, his crazed green-gold eyes fixed on the still form of the girl behind her. His jaw was open impossibly wide, and a sword was extended out of it.

Tsunade realized who his target was, and her face twisted into an enraged snarl. With a quick movement, she twisted around and threw herself into a protective crouch in front of Narumi. With a feeling that was both sharp and incredibly cold, she felt the blade plunge through chest, and emerge from her back in bloody glory.

Her body shook, and she coughed hard, blood oozing over her tongue and teeth. Strangely, it didn't bother her anymore. Pain began to sear through her, and she wondered how it could feel both hot as fire and cold as ice at once.

Orochimaru drew back, eyes wide as he stared at her, voice oddly tight, a slight tremor in his tone as he addressed her in a grave, almost scolding voice.

"Tsunade...I didn't mean...I wasn't trying to kill you... If that brat survives, she'll cause a great deal of trouble for me later on. Don't get in my way..."

Tsunade leaned forward slightly, voice rough and strong as she spoke.

"No. This child...I'm going to protect her, no matter what."

Orochimaru's brows furrowed, and he pulled back, pulling the sword free with slick sucking sound. He stood up, staring down at her as he swallowed the sword back down, his eyes hard as he furrowed his brow.

"Why, of all the shinobi. Tsunade, one of the legendary sanin of Konohagakure...why are you risking your life to protect a worthless genin bratling?"

Glaring ferociously at up at him, Tsunade leaned over, ignoring the sticky warmth seeping down across her chest and back. Stabbing pain lanced her chest, and she choked as blood gurgled in her throat. The bastard must have nicked one of her lungs.

"To protect the leaf."

Orochimaru glared at her, looking more confused than anything else, limp strands of dull black hair sliding across his face as he cocked his head. Tsunade ignored him, looking back over her shoulder at the limp girl behind her, smiling slightly in spite of the dried blood on her chin.

"You want to know why? This kid...she's the future Hokage of Konoha."

Orochimaru scoffed, his expression scornful and amused.

"What are you babbling about? Besides, Hokage is a worthless and empty title. Only a fool would want it. Don't you already know that, Tsunade?"

Tsunade's brows snapped down and she stared at him, eyes wide as the echo of her own words crashed against her. Shizune's sharp scolding reply that had been delivered later that night rang through her mind rebukingly.

"_Have you forgotten their hopes. More importantly...have you forgotten your dreams?"_

The child who was so like her own little brother flashed in minds eye, the fire in impossibly blue eyes that were so like her fathers as she snarled defensively in response to those same words. Taking her determination in both hands, she lifted her eyes to her enemy with a dangerous smirk.

"From now on, I too shall bet my life!"

Sounding frustrated and cold, Orochimaru snorted, tossing his head back as the sword extended from his mouth again.

"Feh! If you're going to throw you life away for a worthless brat like her, then die like the worthless trash you're protecting!"

Slashing down sharply he tore the blade across her chest. Tsunade cursed violently, her body still shivering slightly and sluggish in its response to her commands. As the searing pain tore across her body, she pitched backwards. Orochimaru turned his gaze to the vulnerable form behind her and stepped forward.

"Now...as for Narumi-chan..."

Stepping forward he slashed downwards in a powerful stroke intended to tear the adolescent girls delicate torso open. Forcing herself to roll over, Tsunade threw herself forward, shielding the girl with her own body. The blade bit deeply into her back and side, sending a warm spray of blood splattering across the genin's unfeeling form.

Trembling, she slowly looked around and met Orochimaru's astonished gaze with her own.

"Didn't I tell you? I said I'd bet my life."

Hissing, Orochimaru kicked her hard in the side, causing her to pitch forward onto her side, staring at the vulnerable child beside her as her old teammate loomed threateningly over them both.

"Why? Why do you insist on acting so foolishly and throwing your life away?"

Staring at her hands, Tsuande took a long breath. The nebulous purpose that she had taken on, the formless determination that had been driving her actions until now, suddenly resolved and solidified into a crystal clear, ringing declaration of being that provided her all the answer she needed.

The trembling of her limbs stopped as heat bloomed and swelled through her body, as warm and strong and real as the familiar flow of her chakra roiling through her coils. Narrowing her eyes, she called upon the yin seal on her forehead. She could feel the mark open into a curling seal that wound across her forehead and down the sides of her face even as chakra boiled through her.

Drawing on the immense flood of strength, she shoved herself up, and flashed towards Orochimaru, slamming her fist into his jaw in a powerful uppercut that flung him sharply away from her and the youngling behind her.

"Why am I doing this?"

She repeated his question in a low voice, watching as he stumbled back to his feet, eyes somewhat alarmed. That same dangerous smirk spread across her face, and she voiced the revelation that resonated through her bones, integrating itself with her very being.

"Because now, I am the Godaime Hokage of Konohagakure!"

Spitting blood out to the side, she brought her hands together, taking hold of her chakra and twisting it into the shape she desired, sending it coursing through her body with a sizzle of healing wounds.

"Ninpou-souzousaise!"

Her body was soon whole and strong again, and the markings of the seal faded away from her face. Orochimaru stared at her, his voice cocky though his eyes looked wary and envious.

"Seems like I'm not the only one developing new jutsu...care to tell me what it is?"

Chuckling, Tsunade whiped the blood from her chin, eyes hard as she spread her legs and settled into a combat stance.

"I've been storing chakra in that seal for quite a long time. I used that chakra to stimulate production of various enzymes that accelerated my cell duplication rate for rapid reformation. Allowing me to reconstruct any damaged parts of my body. It's not just healing, its total regeneration."

Smearing the blood from her thumb across the back of her hand, she smirked at the alarmed expression on her enemies face.

"In other words...I'll never die in battle. Ever!"

Flashing through a series of seals, she slammed her hand down into the ground, mentally calling out to Katsuyu, her principle summon.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

As she rushed into the air atop Katsuyu's broad head, she reached back with one hand to steady Narumi until the movement stopped and she found herself standing firmly astride her summon-partners head.

Gamabunta puffed on his pipe, blowing out a long stream of smoke and rumbling deep in his throat.

"Ho...what's this? Manda and Orochimaru, Katsuyu and Tsunade...long time no see. What, is this some kind of reunion Jiraya?"

Jiraya chuckled roughly, his voice both amused and serious at the same time. Tsunade felt a wash of affection for the familiar gruff cheer and loyalty of her ebullient teammate.

"Fool! Don't crack stupid jokes when I call you for a tough job! It's time for us to esttle an old grudge...we're taking Orochimaru down."

Meanwhile, Manda was hissing threateningly at a thoroughly unmoved Orochimaru. She heard him demand a hundred sacrifices in return for his aid, but ignored the conversation between the two, speaking firmly to her own summon.

"Katsuyu! Take this kid to Shizune..."

Katsuyu's gentle voice echoed smoothly up to her, calm and dignified as always.

"Understood."

The section of flesh beneath the genin writhed and then rose and split off, turning into a separate form of the great slug. Turning, the smaller version of her summon slid off her larger selfs back, and headed for Shizune.

Tsunade relaxed slightly, focusing all her attention on the battle about to take place. Shizune was strong. She'd care for and protect the genin. Cracking her neck, she narrowed her eyes and faced her old teammates. It looked like her first task as the Godaime of Konoha would be to wipe her ex-comrade from the face of the earth. She smiled tightly. It was an acceptable proposal.

* * *

><p>Narumi skipped ahead of the group as they walked along the road heading back to the village. The green crystal of the necklace Tsunade-baa-chan had given her chimed cheerfully as it bounced against her shirt. Crowing cheerfully, she spun around and grinned broadly at the group.<p>

Jiraya quirked an eyebrow good-naturedly at her, his voice dryly amused.

"What are you so happy about?"

She pumped a fist excitedly in the air, practically bubbling over with glee.

"We're going back to the village, AND we're bringing someone who can help Sasuke and Lee, AND she's the new Hokage! It's awesome, 'ttebayo!"

Suddenly pausing, she furrowed her brows slightly.

"But...I don't know...if you compare Baa-chan to Sandaime...she's rough and easy to tick off, and loose with money and sake...will it really be alright?"

Tsundae huffed indignantly at her uneasy tone.

"Oi! I'm not that bad gaki!"

Narumi rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at the older blonde, unimpressed by the bluster.

"Yeah you are! Wasn't your nickname 'the legendary sucker'?"

Growling lightly, Tsunade waved a hand at her, beckoning over her.

"Get over here, brat!"

Narumi ran right up to her, fearless and unintimidated by the possible ramifications of her actions. The little group came to a stop

"Don't call me a brat!"

Chuckling, Tsunade leaned over and reached behind her head, untying her hitae-ate and slipping it out from under her bangs. Blinking in disoriented surprise, Narumi saw the older kunoichi's hand come up, and flinched, clenching her eyes tightly shut at the memory of a finger flick to the forehead that had sent her flying.

To her surprise, warm fingers curled around her chin, and lips brushed gently against her forehead. Her eyes slid open in surprise, and she saw Tsunade's hair and throat as the older kunoichi pressed the gentle, affectionate kiss to her forehead.

As Tsunade pulled back and smiled gently down at her, Narumi stared up at her with wide, astonished eyes. Even Ikyue-sensei had never gone further than occasionally brushing her hair. Looking up at the warm brown eyes above her, she wondered if this was what it felt like to have a mother.

Tsunade rested a hand gently above her heart, and her smile took on a sisterly edge of mischief, like a co-conspirator sharing a great secret.

"Become a strong woman, Narumi."

Narumi stared up at her, and then returned the smile with her own foxy grin, her eyes squinting closed with the width of the expression as Tsunade tied her Hitae-ate back over her forehead.

"Of course, 'ttebayo!"

* * *

><p>Tenma walked slowly along the streets of Konoha, trailing after a chuunin stationed in the bureaucratic offices in the Hokage tower. They were just coming to an intersection when an odd group of shinobi passed in front of them, following the street that crossed theirs.<p>

A beautiful woman, A large, loud man, A dark-haired woman holding a pig, and Narumi Uzumaki, the girl he'd fought during the finals of the Chuunin Exams. He blinked, catching a bit of conversation as they moved out into the middle of the intersection.

"...Tsunade-baa-chan has things to take care of before that!"

Narumi's bright voice was indignant and insistent, and the beautiful woman Tenma had noticed before smiled sheepishly, turning soft brown eyes on the only male in the group.

"Right...so Jiraya...who are they again?"

The man shot her an exasperated look, his voice patient.

"I already told you during the trip home several times! That brat Kakashi, the Uchiha kid, and Gai's clone. Lee."

Tenma stared at the group, eyebrows drawing together as he fixed his eyes on the familiar figure standing closest to him.

"Narumi-san? What are you doing here? I thought you were out on a mission?"

The blonde girl looked around at him, apparently only just really registering his presence, and she waved cheerfully before furrowing her brow in confusion.

"Me? What about you, Tenma-kun? The only buildings around here are ninja administration..."

Tenma shifted, flushing in embarrassment, but was saved from having to answer in front of the strange ninja Narumi was accompanying by the chuunin who was escorting him.

"Are you Narumi Uzumaki?"

The blonde nodded in puzzlement, and the man cleared his throat importantly.

"Would you please follow me? This business includes you as well."

Narumi looked startled, but the woman behind her clapped her on the shoulder with a wide, knowing grin.

"Go on, gaki! I'll look after those friends of yours, never fear."

Eyeing the woman for a moment, Narumi shifted her eyes to the large man on her other side. He snorted and made a small shooing motion with his hands, looking completely disinterested. After a moment, she nodded and then fell in step beside Tenma as the other group continued in the direction of the hospital while she and Tenma followed the chuunin to the administrational affairs building.

Eager to strike up a conversation to relieve his nerves, Tenma turned to the younger girl beside him, voice curious.

"Hey, who was that woman? She sure has a big attitude for being so young."

With a grin and a friendly nudge of an elbow, Narumi whispered softly to him as if passing on a huge secret.

"She's the new Hokage! Oh, and guess what? Even though she looks young and beautiful, she's really fifty!"

Tenma's jaw dropped slightly, and he stared at her in near disbelief.

"Are you sure?"

Narumi blinked uncertainly.

"About which?"

He waved his arms expansively above his head, trying to express physically what he couldn't think of words for.

"...both!"

That wide, foxy grin spread back across Narumi's face and she nodded hard.

"Yep! Very, very sure! She's great!"

Before either of them could say anything else, the chuunin shot them a look over his shoulder, frowning slightly as he rested his hand on the door handle of the administration building

"We're here. Please behave yourselves accordingly."

Tenma dropped his gaze, thoroughly chastened. Narumi merely waited for the man to turn his back before sticking her tongue out and waggling it impudently at his back. Tenma choked, lifting a hand to his mouth to stifle his laughter. This girl was very like Lee in some ways.

As they moved into the building, the chuunin showed them over to a wide desk where another chuunin sat. Clearing his throat, he caught the seated mans attention and gestured to the two teens behind him.

"Narumi Uzumaki and Tenma."

With that short declaration, he turned and vanished into the depths of the building. The man behind the desk smiled tiredly at the two ninja standing in front of him.

"Well, normally the Hokage would do this, but under the present circumstances, we'll have to break with tradition over this."

Tenma cut his eyes towards Narumi and met her confused blue gaze, both of them bewildered. Shrugging at each other they turned back to the man in front of them, who was currently rummaging through piles of papers in a drawer, and Tenma hesitantly spoke up.

"Sir? What are we doing here?"

The man waved a hand at them in a vague gesture, muttering to himself under his breath before triumphantly yanking two sheets of paper from the piles he'd been searching.

"Aha!"

Turning, he extended a paper to each of them, along with a brush. A moment later he set an ink stone on the desk just in front of them.

"If you would just review the information to make sure it's all correct and sign these forms?"

Sighing, Tenma scanned over the paper. He blinked. It was a basic overview of his missions, training, and medical history, along with some other pertinent information. A public record meant to give some general information about the ninja in question without releasing any harmful or sensitive information that could get you killed if an enemy got hold of the file.

Dipping his brush into the ink, he wrote his name down quickly at the bottom of the page, blowing gently on the ink strokes to dry them. As the wet gleam faded, he glanced over at Narumi's paper, and was slightly surprised at the smooth, flowing strokes of her characters.

A moment later, they both turned the papers back over to the chuunin, who set them aside carefully before reaching into a box at his side. It wasn't long before he pulled out two flak jackets, one slightly larger than the other. Tenma's eyes widened as the man held out the two jackets, the larger one towards him.

"Congratulations. Tenma, Narumi Uzumaki, you two are officially recognized for your skill and instated as Chuunin of Konohagakure."

Stunned, Tenma accepted the jacket, staring down at the stiff green fabric. It was a little heavier than he would have expected, and he fingered the collar in a daze. When he looked at the girl beside him, she seemed to be just as surprised, but was far more vocal about it than he was.

"W-wait a second!"

Pointing at Tenma, she frowned.

"We fought each other in the finals! How can we both have been promoted?"

Smiling slightly, the older man leaned back in satisfaction.

"Wether you win or lose doesn't really affect your chances at promotion all that much. It's all about demonstrating your skill, your abilities, and..."

Here he raised a finger.

"...your personality. The way you think is just as important as how deadly you are. You, Uzumaki-san, were promoted because during your match you demonstrated both strength, and an exceptional tactical sense, as well as determination and field wisdom."

Turning his eyes back to the boy, he continued in the same tone Ikuye-sensei sometimes slipped into during a lecture.

"Tenma, what you lacked in brute strength, you made up for in skill. You also demonstrated a remarkable ability to remain cool under pressure, and the wisdom to know when it's best to withdraw from a fight where one is outmatched. Both of you demonstrated qualities that we look for in Chuunin, therefore you were both promoted."

Tenma flushed a little with pride and lifted his chin. It felt good to be praised, particularly since he came from a civilian family. To have been promoted over the heirs of long-standing and much honored ninja clans was an incredibly victory for him.

Next to him, Narumi shook out the jacket and held it up, eyeing it skeptically.

"One more question?"

The man nodded again, and she grimaced at him pleadingly.

"We don't have to wear these do we?"

The man laughed, his eyes crinkling up with merriment, laugh lines spreading from the corners of his eyes in friendly web.

"No, it's not a requirement. While most chuunin, especially newly promoted, do wear them, you can continue with personal ninja dress if you find that more comfortable. But you must keep your flak jacket battle-ready, as there are times both in and out of the field where you are required to wear it."

Nodding gratefully, the girl folded the thing in half and tucked it under her arm. Tenma shook his head and slipped his own over his shoulders, zipping it closed and smoothing the long sleeves of the tunic he'd chosen today.

Narumi grinned at him and then headed for the door, waving enthusiastically back at him as she left.

"See ya around, Tenma-kun!"

As she vanished through the door, Tenma shook his head ruefully, following her out at a more sedate pace. He couldn't wait to show Nobuye-chan.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Hello all! I'm so sorry for the delay in this chapter's posting. Long story short, there were power cord issues with my computer, combined with a very busy week and a tangle with a stomach virus. So yeah. Got this done as quickly as possible.

Many many thanks to those who reviewed!  
>To Black-Rose-Angle, glad you like the story and enjoy the length of the chapters. I do my best (^-^).<br>To ChaosIdeals, always nice to hear from someone who enjoys Kakashi! Hope you continue to enjoy the new developments.  
>To firehottie, thank you for taking the time to review. It always makes me happy to hear from you guys, no matter how brief the message.<br>To Zelga Lim Li, glad you enjoyed the last chapter. I do try to go for really long chapters, mainly because that's what I like to read in other peoples stories, particularly when I'm following them update by update. I'm a little nuts that way I'm afraid (-/-).  
>To Hugo0974, thank you very much! I appreciate the review.<br>To Ceralyn, Yes, I agree that Itachi is a very sad character. Still, I intend to use his inanity from the genin days to the fullest extent. Don't worry though, I'm not going to beat up on him unduly, I promise!  
>To 10-iz4, yep, Saburo's going to be fun to work with. Sorry again about the delay, promise I'll do better with the next chapter.<br>To lzlye, This'll be my first attempt at a story including romance, so I'll be under everyones guidance. I'll do my best, so please let me know if you feel I'm losing it, kay?  
>To jayley, Narumi fell unconscious partly because of the mental strain like Kakashi because she took the greatest physical strain from the attack. After all, despite the enormous emotional trauma to Sasuke, Narumi's the one who's brain is convinced she's been repeatedly stabbed to death. However, her reaction was also partly due to the wound she got from Kisame's sword, which tore her up pretty good. The Tsunade events kept pretty close to cannon because I really adore that relationship...so yeah...however! I shall be changing things up hugely in the next chapter, so it works. I hope.<br>To Zandamh, This really is one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me. You make me blush. I shall do my best to continue to improve!

Explanations!

First off, Narumi bounces back rather more quickly from tsukiyomi than Kakashi. But on the other hand, she's dealt with Kyuubi and the results of being his jailer either consciously or unconsciously all her life, so she's pretty mentally resilient. She ends up being more worried about Sasuke because she understands how mental or emotional hurts can be worse than physical ones. Since she'd rather take the pain herself than watch Sasuke get stabbed, she's aware that it was probably worse in a way for him.  
>Next, just like in cannon, Sasuke is currently dealing with feelings of inferiority and frustration with his own weakness. However, instead of resenting his teammates, he's worried that Itachi is going to come back to hurt them and he won't be able to stop him. He's dealing with this by, naturally, pounding on Saburo mercilessly. Saburo was pretty excited to train with his hero at first, but around the third hour of being beaten until he had technicolor skin...not so much. He doesn't actually start trying to quit until about a week and a half to two weeks in, which is when the scene in the fic takes place. (I used time skips liberally. Narumi was gone around a month. Kakashi woke up after the first two weeks, but he's still unsteady on his feet and recovering.) Whenever Saburo starts trying to back out, Sasuke tries to rile him up the way he would Narumi. Unfortunately, it doesn't work so well, which confuses the heck out of our dear, brooding Uchiha. Kakashi eventually steps in both because he needs to talk to Sasuke, and because he feels much pity for poor Saburo, who has been thoroughly tenderized.<br>During his talk with Sasuke, Kakashi opens up to him a little bit in an effort to show the boy that he can be trusted because he is willing to trust Sasuke first. Give to get kind of a thing. And it works very well. Sasuke ends up apologizing almost mindlessly to Kakashi because he feels like he not only let down his teammates, but that he betrayed the very first lesson Kakashi gave them. Mainly, NEVER ABANDON YOUR TEAMMATES. Never mind that he didn't actually abandon her, she got hurt while he was present, he left her right after while she was still passed out and vulnerable, and rhyme and reason be damned, he feels guilty. After calming him down, and reassuring Sasuke through implication that should Itachi attempt to harm a member of team seven again fire and brimstone will rain down, Kakashi moves on to his last concern. He intends to have Sasuke stay at his apartment for a while, for two reasons. A) He is papa bear Kakashi, and wants to keep an eye on his students as much as possible after such an attack. If Narumi were present, he'd probably move her in temporarily too. And B) he really does not think it's a good idea for Sasuke to be tuck in a ghost town that reminds him constantly of Itachi and the horrible things he's done while he's still unsteady from the mental attack of Tsukiyomi. Because dude, that CANNOT be helping any with mental stability.

I think the events with Tsunade and Narumi largely speak for themselves, but one important to thing to note Tsunade does not only see Dan and Nowaki in Narumi. She also sees a younger version of herself as she wishes she had been. She wishes that she had been more like Dan and Nowaki, and she sees that potential and spirit in Narumi. However, her affection for Narumi is based on Narumi's own personality, not on her lingering feelings for her brother or her guilt over what she feels she's not. Narumi just happens to resonate deeply with Tsunade's experiences and past. In the end, Tsunade becomes Hokage largely in part to a desire to protect Konoha for Narumi, and to see the girl grow up into the Hokage Tsunade is sure she will one day be. In a way, for Tsunade Narumi becomes the physical embodiment and manifestation of all that is best and brightest in Konoha, which makes her doubly precious and valuable.

Lastly, Tenma and Narumi are made Chuunin! Did I manage to surprise anyone with that? I hope so! I think I explained the qualities they exhibited that proved them ready for promotion pretty well within the actual fic, but if you'd like clarification about something let me know. Basically, when I looked back at the finals of the exams, I realized that it would be silly to make Shika a chuunin, seeing as she didn't even get to fight and exhibit her abilities. But I didn't want it to be a no-pass situation. So I thought really hard about the fights. And when I looked at what was going on, I decided that I could see leadership potential in both Narumi and Tenma. And Narumi being a chuunin opened up a whole string of ideas that I'm really excited to develop...so yeah! I think that about covers it.

P.S. Should Kakashi find out about the Yume incident, things shall most likely get painful for a certain toad sage we all know and love. Heh heh. Because I'm just wicked that way.

Please to read and review!


	16. Growing Up

Sasuke opened the door, grumbling under his breath about sensei who couldn't even put down their perverted books long enough to answer their own doors. Blinking, he stared up at the beautiful woman standing outside the door. There was a moment of silence, where Sasuke stared up at her with a furrowed brow.

"I'm sorry, I think you must have the wrong apartment..."

The woman snorted, her eyes amused as she cocked a hip and braced her hand against it.

"I doubt it, boy. You have the look of an Uchiha...?"

Sasuke drew back slightly, confused. Saburo knew that Kakashi was smothering...er...looking after Sasuke, but he hadn't really mentioned it to anyone else. If it was him she wanted, how could she have known to come looking here?

"...yeah. I'm Sasuke Uchiha. Can I help you?"

The woman rolled her eyes, planted a hand on his chest, and strode into the apartment. Sasuke stumbled backward, forced to give an odd hop up and backwards to avoid falling over the ledge of the raised wooden floor beyond the entry way. The woman continued in, followed by another woman with dark hair.

Kakashi had come to the doorway of the living room, and was staring at the two women with a look of surprise, but not alarm. Sasuke was thoroughly confused, and turned his head to ask his sensei a question, when a flash of white drew his eyes back to the doorway. Stepping in after them was Jiraya, the large shinobi he'd left Narumi with. Sasuke froze.

"Sensei-!"

Kakashi nodded once, eyes focused on the man intently.

"Tsunade-sama. Jiraya-sama. Shizune-san. May I ask to what we owe the pleasure?"

Kakashi's dark eye flickered over the empty air behind Jiraya as the door swung shut, and his pleasant voice took on a darker undertone beneath the false cheer.

"And where my student is?"

Jiraya raised his hands placatingly, palms turned out towards the deceptively relaxed looking Hatakae, his voice dry and just a shade wary.

"I told you Tsunade."

Turning his attention back to Kakashi, he cleared his throat, voice even and reasonable.

"She's fine, Kakashi. Here in the village of course. A chuunin caught us on our way in to see Gai's student, and took her off for something or other. Her and another genin that I didn't recognize."

Kakashi made a noncommittal noise deep in his throat, black gaze never wavering from the sannin shifting nervously in place. The woman who had been identified as Tsunade advanced on Sasuke, grabbing him by the shoulder and dragging him forward.

Sasuke brows snapped down, and he instantly made to resist the pull. She frowned and ignored his attempt, bending over and laying a glowing green hand on his forehead.

"Take it easy, brat. I'm just giving you a quick check for possible damage left by tsukiyomi."

The Uchiha's eyes flashed back and forth between Tsunade and Jiraya with growing agitation and excitement. Narumi was back! She was in the village! Tsunade snorted and rapped the top of his head lightly with her knuckles.

"Hold still, or I'll never finish!"

Huffing impatiently, the dark boy forced himself to stand perfectly still as her chakra washed over him in a soothing wave. While he was allowing Tsunade to get on with her examination, Kakashi addressed Jiraya.

"So, how has Narumi been?"

The sannin shrugged slightly, a proud grin tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"Oh, fine. Training like mad, of course."

The mans voice was purposefully casual and light, as if he were just happening to mention a curious weather pattern.

"I taught her the rasengan."

Sasuke frowned slightly when he heard Kakashi-sensei draw in a sharp breath.

"Rasengan? Truly? How far along is she?"

Jiraya chuckled slightly, and now Sasuke was sure he wasn't imagining the satisfied tone that laced the white haired shinobi's voice.

"She's mastered it. Already able to summon and use the complete form."

Sasuke cautiously shifted his eyes around, straining to peer at Kakashi-sensei, who was hovering at the very outside edge of his vision. The jounin was staring at Jiraya as if the man had suddenly turned green. With a shiver, Sasuke saw that it wasn't just an obsidian eye that was fixed so unwaveringly on the older man. Kakashi's sharingan was wide open, bloody crimson flashing from behind silver bangs.

"You're...you're not serious?"

Jiraya smirked in a very self-satisfied manner, and crossed his arms over his broad chest.

"Dead serious. Couldn't believe it myself."

Kakashi looked a little indignant, and a little worried as he scowled at the big man.

"Don't you think that was a little too much, too soon? She's still a kid!"

Jiraya snorted, both defensive and dismissive at the same time.

"Oh please. As if teaching the Uchiha princeling here CHIDORI wasn't overkill."

Sasuke watched the two men quietly, wondering what sort of technique rasengan might be to draw such a reaction from Kakashi-sensei. Just as he was about to snap from tension, Tsunade drew back her hand, ruffling his bangs as she went.

"You're good, kid. No real damage as far as I can tell. Must be the resiliency of youth."

Smoothing his bangs back irately, Sasuke bolted for the entry way. Swerving around the group standing in the hall, he snatched up his weapons holster, strapping it hurriedly to his thigh as he called over his shoulder to Kakashi.

"Kakashi-sensei, I'm going out now!"

As he reached for his hitae-ate and fastened it around his forehead, Kakashi straightened from where he was leaning against the doorway leading the living room.

"Going to go find Narumi?"

Sasuke nodded vigorously, snatching up his combat sandals and hopping from foot to foot in a very un-Uchiha-like manner as he jammed his feet into them. Kakashi stepped forward, voice smooth and amused, sharingan eye once again closed and hidden behind long silver bangs.

"Hold up there, tiger. I'll go with you."

Tsunade stepped into his path, firmly blocking the jounin from advancing towards the door.

"Oh no you won't. The Uchiha kid isn't the only one I came to check, Hatake."

Kakashi blinked, and his voice sounded both astonished and slightly annoyed.

"I'm fine, Tsunade-sama."

The blonde woman rolled her eyes, apparently unimpressed.

"You're fine when I say you're fine, Hatake."

Kakashi began to sound more indignant, and Sasuke listened half in awe, half in amusement as he checked over the last of his gear hurriedly.

"Tsunade-sama, I am a twenty-six year old special jounin with a genin team of my own as well as a former ANBU member. I think I can tell when I need medical attention and when I don't!"

Tsunade's hand flashed out and caught the man by the forehead, glowing a verdant green as she narrowed her eyes and held the ruffled jounin still.

"Be that as it may, you'll always be Minato's gaki to me, gaki."

Choking down a laugh at the idea of anyone referring to _Kakashi-sensei_ of all people as a brat, Sasuke yanked the door open, and slipped out of the apartment, closing the door softly behind him. Vaulting over the rail, he bolted impatiently down the streets, he whipped around a corner, heading for the edge of the market centers of the village.

It wasn't long before he reached the street where the Yamanaka flower shop was situated. A few modest civilian homes were situated just down the street from it, one of which belonged to the Haruno family.

Dashing up to the door of the house he thought was the correct residence, he paused and took a moment to sweep his senses over the house. Sure enough, he felt the steady chakra signature that was as familiar to him as his own or Narumi's.

Assured that this was indeed the place he'd find his other teammate, he lifted his fist and pounded hard on the door. He paused to wait for a minute, but when no one answered his call, he set his jaw and pounded harder.

He was just pulling his fist back again when the door swung sharply open. The Uchiha found himself looking up into the cool, disapproving gaze of a young man who looked to be in his late teens or early twenties.

The guy had short, sleek hair that was a shade that was something in between a dark pink and light red, and brown eyes that narrowed behind square, thick rimmed glasses. He looked very bookish and proper, very much like a civilian. Those eyes traveled up and down Sasuke critically.

"...can I help you, shinobi-san?"

Sasuke bristled slightly at the tone, hackles up as he narrowed his eyes at the older boy. Forcibly restraining himself from sneering an answer back, he reined in his temper, and kept his voice carefully even.

"I'm Sasuke Uchiha, Saburo's teammate."

Slender brows rose, and brown eyes flickered over him again. Crossing thin arms over his chest, the civilian stared down at Sasuke with an odd expression.

"Oh? Is that so."

Turning his head slightly, he called over his shoulder.

"Shizaki. Come out here for a minute."

Another boy who looked to be a few years younger than the one already at the door slid through an open doorway. This one had hair such a dark red that it looked brown, and pale green-grey eyes.

"What is it Akio?"

The first boy, Akio, smiled sardonically at Sasuke, and held a hand out to the young Uchiha.

"We're Saburo's elder brothers...pleased to make your acquaintance Uchiha-san."

Sasuke eyed the two of them in confusion, but shook both their hands anyway. His brows shot up. Their pale, uncallused hands were even more dainty than a kunoichi's, though while a kunoichi's came across feeling delicate and feminine, theirs felt fragile and flimsy. And with hands like that, they were trying to crush his.

Of course, with the grip strength of a civilian, it was barely enough to pinch the skin of his hand. Snorting softly, he returned the grip just a bit more firmly than he needed to. After all, Saburo probably wouldn't appreciate his brothers having their hands crushed.

On the other hand, now he understood the civilian-born shinobi's ongoing problems and increasing frustration with his family much better. Personally, he took a deep pleasure in the slightly annoyed expression in their eyes when he didn't so much as wince at their attempt at intimidation.

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Sasuke impatiently addressed the two brothers.

"I came looking for Saburo, so if you wouldn't mind-"

Akio cleared his throat, trying to keep his expression and voice smooth as he faced down the young shinobi, cutting him off in a slick voice.

"This is quite fortunate. We actually had a matter to discuss with you concerning our little brother."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, suddenly feeling cautious.

"What's that?"

The older boys exchanged a glance, and then looked at him with an expression that combined sure superiority, and coaxing.

"Well, you must have realized by now Uchiha-san. Our little brother is...well he's bookish. He's always had big dreams, but he doesn't understand what those dreams imply. Our parents decided to indulge his little ambition and enroll him in the academy, but..."

Akio's expression tightened, and Shizaki scowled slightly.

"He wasn't ever supposed to graduate. He thinks he's ready for this, but he doesn't realize the danger he's in. We want to put a stop to this foolishness before it goes any further."

Sasuke stared at them, eyes wide, jaw slack. He couldn't believe he was hearing this. The Haruno brothers didn't seem to notice his reaction.

"Now, if you were to, as his teammate, say something to your superiors. Just to explain he's unfit you understand. For his own good. Surely you can see that would be for the best?"

Sasuke hissed angrily at the two brothers, dark eyes sparking with rage as he reminded himself that it would be unethical for him to attack civilians of the village. Definitely wouldn't be looked on kindly.

"Saburo is my comrade. I would trust him with my life. He is not unfit to be a shinobi. And if you have an issue with his choice of lifestyle, perhaps you should take it up with him."

Shizaki scoffed as his elder brother adjusted his glasses.

"We've tried. But he's damn bullheaded about this. His pride won't let him see that he's in over his head. He won't listen to us! But he's too old for this sort of game. It's about time he grew up and faced reality!"

Akio cut in before Sasuke could deliver the cutting reply that sprang so readily to his lips, voice smooth and even as he attempted to appeal to Sasuke's sense of superiority.

"Uchiha-san, this isn't only to our benefit. It would be safer for all of you. Saburo would be at home where he belongs, helping our parents, and you would have a proper shinobi that you could rely on as a teammate."

Sasuke had had enough. More than enough. Saburo had talked to him over the past month about the issues with his family, but he had never let on that it was as bad as all this! Enraged, the young Uchiha instinctively called his chakra to his eyes, feeling the Sharingan whirl to bloody red life in his eyes as the world around him sharpened.

Both the elder Haruno's took a step back, unnerved by the sudden shift in his eyes. Sasuke allowed himself a moment of malicious amusement, before shifting his gaze away from them, dismissing them as he looked down the hall behind them. Saburo stood on the stairs to the hall, frozen and stiff looking, face unreadable.

Sasuke had felt his friends chakra signature approach just after Akio had called Shizaki in to talk to Sasuke. It hadn't been hard, seeing as the more developed, stronger signature of a shinobi would have shone in his chakra senses like a torch among matches in this house of civilians, even if it hadn't been his teammate coming.

He'd tried to say something to Akio about it, but the other two brothers had plowed right over him, and into that disgusting travesty of a speech. Sasuke couldn't imagine how Saburo felt, listening to such tripe spilling forth from the mouths of his own kin, but he had an idea.

Stepping forward into the house, Sasuke planted one hand on Akio's shoulder, and the other on Shizaki's. With a powerful shove, he pushed them out of his way, and addressed Saburo directly in a voice sharpened by anger, dismissing the civilians entirely.

"Saburo. Let's go."

Akio and Shizaki both stared at the rosette in surprise, only just noticing his presence. Saburo didn't look at either of them, nodding stiffly. His movements perfectly controlled, he advanced down the stairs and strode down the hall. Sasuke turned slightly to the side to allow Saburo past him to where his gear was placed neatly on a shelf in the entry way.

Silence reigned, heavy and oppressive, while Saburo strapped on his weapons holster, an extra weapons pouch, and reached for his combat sandals, hitae-ate already firmly secured around his upper left bicep.

Shizaki suddenly started forward, catching his younger brothers bicep just below his hitae-ate in one hand, eyes wide but determined as he stared at Saburo. The younger boy had stilled the moment his brothers hand touched his skin, and apparently the other Haruno boys took this as willingness to listen to them.

"Saburo, wait! You don't understand! We're trying to do what's best for you!"

Akio joined in, still looking somewhat aloof and cool.

"Shizaki is right. You can't understand what you've gotten yourself into."

Saburo slowly turned to face his eldest brother, jade green eyes unreadable. Akio's voice hardened, tone becoming defensive.

"Damn it Saburo, you have to stop behaving like a child! It's about time you grew up!"

Half turning, Sasuke snarled, his sharingan whirling faster as he stepped forward towards the older boy. Saburo's hand closed over his shoulder in an iron grip, halting him in his tracks. Frowning, Sasuke looked back at the rosette, subsiding when the other boy shook his head slightly.

Looking up, Saburo met Akio's gaze with calm strength, and slowly began flexing the muscles of his left arm. The defined muscles beneath Shizaki's fingers swelled and grew, spreading his fingers and forcing his grip apart until he had to release the young rosette.

Sasuke shot the older boy a warning glance, causing him to pale slightly and back up a few more steps. Saburo's fingers tightened on Sasuke's shoulder as he spoke to Akio in a calm, detached sounding voice.

"Perhaps you are right, Akio-san. It is long past the time when I could reasonably behave in the manner of a child."

Dipping his head slightly, and keeping his speech formal, he finished what he was saying before Sasuke could flare up in his defense.

"Would you be so kind as to inform Mother and Father that I will be moving out within the next week?"

Sasuke did his best not to snap his head around to look at his teammate. It wasn't what he had expected at all. If it had been Narumi, he'd have tried to talk her down, sure she would have been acting in the heat of the moment. But Saburo wasn't the type to make such a big decision without thinking it through first.

Akio and Shizaki were apparently even more shocked than he was. Shizaki choked, apparently unable to find any words to express his feelings about Saburo's declaration. Akio, on the other hand, spat a reply back almost instantly, his tone sharp with a slightly mocking edge that desperately tried to hide the shock that ran thickly beneath his words.

"Very dramatic Saburo. But I'm afraid you're forgetting two very important facts. One, you have no real source of income, and two, you're a child. You're not legally able to live on your own, even if you did have the means, which you don't."

Sasuke stepped in here, thoroughly fed up with this little power struggle. When he spoke, it was with all the icy surety and weight of the heir of the Uchiha clan, unconsciously summoning his pride and confidence around him like a mantle in much the same way his father used to.

"On the contrary, Haruno-san. According to village law, once a genin has been instated as a ninja, they cease to be children from that moment onwards. This entitles all ninja, genin and up, to the rights and privileges of a full adult. In the eyes of Konohagakure, Saburo is well within his rights to seek out and acquire living arrangements more to his liking."

A cool smile spread across Sasuke's face as he stared Akio down. This guy had no idea who he was dealing with. A civilian, no matter how brainy or irritated, could not hope to measure up to a shinobi.

"And also, Saburo is already financially independent. He receives adequate pay for accomplished missions to support himself comfortably. Now, if you'll excuse us."

With a mockingly polite nod to the seething brothers, he spun on his heel, glanced over Saburo to make sure he had his gear as the rosettes hand slipped free of his shoulder. Jade eyes locked with obsidian, and the two of them shared a quiet look, before Saburo led the way out of the door.

Though he wanted to slam it, Sasuke was careful to close the door gently behind them, before the two of them walked off down the street. Sasuke glanced over at Saburo, eying him carefully. Most people would have said that he was unaffected by the scene that had just occurred. But Sasuke could see the stiffness and tension in his shoulders and spine.

They walked in silence for a moment, and Sasuke's brow furrowed in concern. An idea struck him, and he was momentarily stunned at the very thought. It seemed ludicrous, and had it occurred to him even two months ago, he would have dismissed it out of hand. But things were different now.

Keeping his eyes straight ahead, he questioned his teammate in the calmest voice he could manage.

"So? You're really gonna move out?"

Saburo sighed and ran a hand through his hair, combing his bangs back from his face to reveal weary eyes, his mouth set tightly with bitter frustration.

"...Yeah. Yeah, I guess I am."

Shrugging his shoulders slightly, the rosette looked down at the street in front of them and shoved his hands deep into his pockets.

"I...didn't really think I would have to. I mean, I could deal with everything before. The fights, the lectures, all of it. I didn't like it, but I could handle it."

Sasuke glanced over at the slightly hunched form beside him, and prompted quietly.

"And now?"

Saburo threw his head back and blew out a long breath, forcibly straightening his shoulders.

"Now...it's crossed a line. Now they're harassing my teammates and trying to undercut my status as a shinobi. That's not something I can just let slide."

Sasuke nodded slowly. It was difficult for him to understand Saburo's family. Coming from shinobi blood, surrounded by other kids who came from shinobi families, he had never imagined that anyone would try to persuade their child to leave behind their ninja status, let alone try to forcibly remove them from it.

Turning his attention back to the street ahead of them, Sasuke tentatively continued his line of questioning, careful to make sure that his tone stayed as even as he could. He wasn't used to being sympathetic or supportive, but he'd do his best.

"Any idea where you're gonna stay?"

Saburo chuckled humorlessly.

"Not a clue. I suppose I'll have to talk to Kakashi-sensei about it. He might know where I could get an apartment..."

Sasuke shrugged slightly, and then cautiously extended his own idea, voice neutral and casual.

"...if you want, you could stay at the compound with me."

The rosette blinked and looked over at him in surprise. Sasuke shrugged self-consciously, hurrying to explain his uncharacteristic offer.

"There's a lot of space there, you know? And Kakashi-sensei'll worry about you if you're out on your own. You know he worries too much, and if you're staying with me it'd keep him from hovering over either of us..."

Saburo eyed the darker boy incredulously as the Uchiha's voice trailed off into an uncomfortable silence.

"Are you really sure? I mean, you never let anyone into your house. The girls from the Academy have been moaning about it since we were seven!"

Sasuke scowled, voice taking on a slightly indignant tone.

"I wouldn't offer if I wasn't sure!"

Saburo's face broke out into a relieved smile, and his entire body relaxed, shoulders dropping slightly as the tension went out of them.

"Thanks, Sasuke. Really."

The Uchiha raised a hand to scrub awkwardly at the back of his head, caught between pleasure in being able to help, and embarrassment at the gratitude being directed at him. Thankfully, Saburo looked away, still grinning.

"I wonder what Kakashi-sensei and Narumi will think about all this?"

Sasuke opened his mouth, and then snapped it closed, eyes widening as he mentally cursed his own forgetfulness. Stopping in his tracks, he whirled to face his teammate and snatched him by the shoulders, startling the other boy.

"That's what I came to tell you! Narumi's back!"

The two of them stared at each other for an instant, and then Saburo's whole face lit up with a grin so wide it looked painful.

"Well why didn't you say so? Let's go!"

Breaking free of Sasuke's grasp, the rosette whooped and dashed headlong down the street, springing up onto the roofs when he reached the end of the street. Sasuke raced after him, feeding chakra into his legs and feet, and bounding past Saburo as they sped towards the part of the village where Narumi's apartment lay.

Laughing, Saburo shot a challenging look at the darker boy.

"I'll race you!"

Sasuke snorted, eyes narrowing. With a burst of speed, the two of them flashed across the village, both of them straining to pull ahead of the other. When the apartment building in question came into view, both boys flung themselves into a last burst of speed, vaulting over the second floor railing and skidding to a stop in front of Narumi's door.

Saburo crowed excitedly, clenching a fist tightly.

"Yes! I won!"

Sasuke snorted, stalking hurriedly to the door.

"In your dreams, Haruno."

Saburo rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath about stubborn Uchiha's before walking up beside him as Sasuke knocked on the door. Both boys stared intently at the door as the sound of light footsteps echoed softly from behind the door. The steps hesitated just behind the door, before it was swung open.

Narumi stood in the doorway, her jacket tied around her waist but otherwise completely geared up and looking as if she'd just arrived. She grinned widely at them, blue eyes bright and sparkling.

"Saburo-kun, Sasuke-teme! I'm back!"

Saburo rolled his eyes and hugged the girl loosely around the shoulders before putting her in a gentle headlock.

"No kidding. You nutty girl, where have you been?"

Narumi yelped in protest, locking her hands around Saburo's arm and wriggling against the hold, indignantly insisting that she was _not a 'nutty girl'_ and demanding that Saburo release her.

Sasuke snorted at their antics, eyes flickering over the blonde carefully. He relaxed when he found her whole and unharmed. Shaking his head at his teammates who were stumbling back and forth over the entryway of the small apartment as they wrestled.

"If you two are finished...?"

Narumi slipped the headlock, and scowled indignantly at both boys. She was just drawing herself up to make a remark when her stomach growled loudly. Saburo burst into laughter at her chagrined face, and Sasuke shook his head slightly.

"Ichiraku's then?"

Narumi stared at him, jaw dropping slightly. Then she whooped, launching herself forward and catching the Uchiha by the wrist. Beckoning wildly to Saburo she determinedly began dragging Sasuke towards the stairs that led down to the street.

"Come on, come on! Let's go, 'ttebayo!"

Saburo quickly locked and closed the apartment door behind them, following Sasuke and Narumi down to the street. When he had caught up with them, Sasuke pulled his hand free of Narumi's grip, and he and Saburo took up positions on either side of her.

As they walked, Sasuke shifted his gaze around to watch the bouncy blonde from the corner of his eye.

"Dobe. You were gone for a long time."

Narumi scowled at him, huffing and crossing her arms.

"I'm not a dobe! And anyway, I couldn't help it."

Sasuke lifted a questioning brow, and Saburo leaned around to peer into the kunoichi's face curiously.

"What do you mean? What were you doing exactly?"

Narumi grinned proudly, her shoulders straightening slightly as she answered.

"Ero-sennin and I went to go get the Godaime! Oh, and Ero-sennin taught me a super awesome technique!"

Sasuke turned his head fully to face her, eyes sparking with interest. Narumi caught the look and her smile turned mischievous as she purposely passed over the subject she knew to have caught his interest.

"You oughta see the Godaime, Saburo-kun! She's really something!"

Saburo's voice turned surprised and curious.

"She?"

Narumi nodded enthusiastically.

"Yep! Tsunade-baa-chan! She's a sannin like Ero-sennin, and she's a brilliant iryo-nin!"

Sasuke's brows shot up.

"You mean that blonde woman with the huge...?"

Narumi stared at him blankly for the moment, and then turned beet red and punched him hard in the shoulder with a horrified screech.

"TEME!"

Wincing, Sasuke rubbed his shoulder and glared at her defensively.

"What?"

Saburo looked back and forth between the two of them in confusion.

"You know this Tsunade woman Sasuke?"

Sasuke huffed and looked away.

"I met her. She came by Kakashi's place to look us over. It's how I knew Narumi was back."

Before Saburo could ask him anything else, Narumi stopped dead, staring at Sasuke with her mouth wide open.

"What were you doing at Kakashi-sensei's house?"

Sasuke glared and Saburo burst into laughter.

"Oh that? Kakashi hasn't let Sasuke out of his sight since your little encounter with those Akatsuki guys. Now that you mention it, you better brace yourself Narumi. you're his next target. And it'll be worse for you because he's been working himself into a state over how you might be doing."

Narumi grimaced and ducked her head, mumbling under her breath about how she was fine. Sasuke sighed and nudged her shoulder slightly.

"So? What happened?"

Narumi's eyes hardened slightly, and her voice turned tentative and serious.

"We sort of...ran into Orochimaru when we found Baa-chan. He wanted her to heal his arms or something."

Sasuke tensed, back stiffening at the mention of the snakes name. Uneasily, he lifted a hand to rub at his neck where the starkly malevolent curse mark marred his pale skin. Narumi caught the motion and eyed him uncertainly. Sasuke ignored her unease, questioning her sharply.

"Are you alright? Did he hurt you?"

Narumi blew at him softly, shrugging slightly as she turned away. But as she answered him, she bumped a shoulder reassuringly against his.

"Please! I kicked butt!"

Sasuke stared hard at her, and Saburo rumbled his dissatisfaction with the answer deep in his throat. Blue eyes flicked back and forth between them before she sighed slightly and rolled her eyes softly at them.

"Guys! I'm here, aren't I? Anyway, Baa-chan and Ero-sennin looked after me!"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes slightly, looking away from her and muttering under his breath.

"Bastard snake...!"

Narumi eyed him for a minute, and then chuckled and punched his arm.

"Hey teme! Didn't you hear me say I learned an awesome new technique?"

Skipping ahead, she shot the boys a cocky grin and crowed excitedly.

"I bet it even beats your chidori, teme!"

Sasuke's brows shot up, and Saburo laughed, chasing after Narumi as they arrived at Ichiraku's and she ducked eagerly through the doorway. The Uchiha watched them go, relaxing slightly. Mentally, he moved Orochimaru further up his list of enemies to be eliminated.

Strolling after the other two, he lifted a cloth square out of the way and stepped into the ramen stand. Narumi was bouncing on a stool, a wide grin spreading across her face as Teuchi turned away and picked up a bowl. Saburo was just sitting down beside her, so Sasuke took the seat on her other side.

Ayame was just walking up with an indulgent smile, and tilted her head slightly at the three of them. She and Teuchi were obviously used to Narumi's exuberance over their signature dish.

"And what about you boys?"

Saburo cheerfully ordered beef ramen, while Sasuke quietly requested a plain miso to Narumi's miso pork. While Ayame joined her father in the preparation of the dishes, Narumi crossed her arms on the counter, and leaned forward, looking back and forth between Sasuke and Saburo.

"What were you guys doing while I was gone anyway?"

Saburo shrugged, voice sarcastic and amused as he looked over Narumi to the darker boy.

"Oh, nothing much. Sasuke seems determined to beat me into a liquid form, but other than that..."

Narumi shot Sasuke a wide eyed glance, obviously not sure what to make of such a statement. Sasuke looked away to hide the light flush of embarrassment, tone only slightly indignant.

"If you can't keep up with me during training, that's your own problem Haruno."

Saburo's response was good-natured and tolerant, understanding that Sasuke didn't really mean to insult him and accepting the other boys slightly huffy statement.

"Right, right. Keep your hitae-ate on, Uchiha."

Narumi's blue eyes were wider than ever, and her jaw slightly slack.

"You two are...disturbingly chummy..."

Sasuke raised a brow at her, and Saburo eyed her just as curiously.

"Well, we are teammates."

Ayame walked up at just that moment, giggling softly as she quickly set down the three steaming bowls of ramen in front of the ninja.

"Don't try to figure it out, Narumi-chan. It's male bonding. Even a tomboy like you won't really understand the reasoning behind it."

Narumi gaped at Ayame for a moment, and then looked to her comrades for confirmation. They just shrugged at her, Sasuke more elegantly than Saburo, but still. The blonde scowled at both of them and threw up her hands in an expansive and exasperated gesture.

"Boys!"

Promptly deciding to ignore the both of them, she picked up her chopsticks, snapped them apart, and dug into her ramen with all the gusto of a starving man. Sasuke watched her for a moment, amused at her behavior and relieved that the team was once more complete.

He was just snapping apart his own set of chopsticks, when a gentle voice came from behind them.

"Narumi-chan. Welcome home."

Sasuke turned almost perfectly in sync with his teammates to look behind them. Shinako stood there, hands folded delicately together, hood tossed back over her shoulders to reveal the thick, short waves of hair bound back by her hitae-ate. Though her face was as calm and cool as ever, Sasuke could have sworn he heard a note of warmth in her voice.

Narumi grinned brightly at the other kunoichi, swallowing down her latest bite of noodles and waving energetically.

"I'm back, Shinako-chan! Come have ramen with us!"

Shinako tucked her chin in slightly, voice soft.

"I wouldn't want to intrude..."

To Sasuke's surprise, Saburo was the one to answer that. Almost instantly, the rosette leaped to his feet, cheeks slightly flushed and eyes lighting up.

"Oh no! You're not intruding! Come sit!"

Eagerly, he snatched up his bowl and scooted it over so that the spot between him and Narumi was left open. Sasuke's head whipped around, and he stared at his rosy-haired teammate, mind racing as he watched him. Narumi had a similar reaction, glancing over at Saburo with an indecipherable expression. But she covered it quickly with a bright smile.

"Yeah, it's fine!"

Shinako hesitated only a moment, before padding shyly up and sitting down next to the blonde. There was a moment of silence while Saburo stood behind his newly acquired stool looking at Shinako. The Aburame threw him a confused glance, brow furrowing very slightly.

"Saburo-kun? Were you going to finish your ramen?"

The Haruno started, and much to Sasuke's amusement, blushed a horrendous shade of red. Scrambling onto the stool, he muttered something under his breath, and focused on the bowl of noodles in front of him with a single-minded intensity.

Sasuke could hear Ayame stifling more giggles behind her hand, and when Teuchi came to Saburo's rescue, he was wearing a knowing and kindly smile.

"Well then, what'll it be young miss?"

Shinako tilted her head back slightly, and shook her head slightly.

"Just an iced peach juice please."

Teuchi shook his head slightly, still radiating amusement, and winked slightly at the Aburame girl.

"Comin' right up!"

It wasn't half a moment before he was returning from the back of the shop, a tall glass of golden liquid, placing it gently in front of her and nodding to all of them.

"You kids enjoy your food. Let me know if you need anything else."

So saying, he turned away to help Ayame with washing up some dishes in the back. Shinako wrapped both hands around the glass, playing with it slightly as the rest of them slurped down their noodles. Sasuke glanced down into his own bowl with slight interest.

The food was a bit salty for him to want to eat it anywhere near as often as his kunoichi teammate, but he was beginning to understand her fondness for the savory noodles a bit more. Slurping down another bite, he glanced mildly over at the Aburame girl.

"So, Shinako-san. If you weren't hungry, did you come here looking for Narumi?"

Shinako looked up, and set her glass down on the counter, though her hands remained wrapped comfortably around the smooth surface. Turning to Narumi, she seemed to recall the reason she'd come to the ramen stand.

"Oh yes. I just wanted to congratulate you, Narumi-chan, on your promotion."

Sasuke froze, chopsticks loaded with noodles halfway to his mouth. Saburo choked, spluttering and pounding the counter with one fist as he covered his mouth with his other hand. Slowly, Sasuke turned his head to look to the side.

Narumi was hunched over, her face tinged pink, pushing an egg around the broth in her bowl with her chopsticks. Saburo was sputtering and wheezing, obviously trying to form a question but unable to still his coughing in order to do so. Shinako was glancing back and forth between the two boys, exuding a very subtle air of confusion.

The blonde kunoichi let the silence trail on for a moment, before leaning back suddenly and rubbing the back of her head with a slightly nervous laugh.

"Oh yeah...I...er...how'd you find out about that?"

Shinako tilted her head inquiringly, but answered just the same.

"Kira-chan and I encountered Tenma-kun near the Hyuuga residence after accompanying Hirohito home. We inquired after his flak jacket, and he passed on the news that the two of you had been promoted to chuunin."

Sasuke blinked slowly at Narumi, and she chuckled nervously. It trailed off, leaving Saburo spluttering in the background. Then she burst out indignantly.

"What? I was gonna tell you guys! It just...slipped my mind..."

Sasuke felt his eyebrows climbing up his forehead as he continued to stare silently at her, struggling to find words to articulate his utter disbelief and inability to comprehend the situation at hand. Saburo was still unable to speak, wheezing and gasping as he waved his arms wildly above his head. Shinako broke out into quiet laughter, lifting a hand to her lips discreetly. Narumi just returned to her ramen.

The Uchiha shook his head slightly ruefully. Some great power must hate him. This dobe, of all people, beat him to chuunin. Sighing mournfully, he stared morosely down into his bowl, and took another bite.

* * *

><p>Kakashi, having finally escaped the well-meaning and unavoidable ministrations of the formidable Tsunade-sama, was just finishing putting on his gear when someone knocked on the door. Somewhat wary that Jiraya-sama and his lovely but intimidating female companion might have returned, he extended his chakra senses before opening the door.<p>

To his surprise, three very young and familiar signatures glowed brightly just outside his apartment. Pleased and relieved to know that all three of his students were finally back where he could see them and personally deal with any threats, he swung the door wide open and smiled down at them.

"Well, hello my cute students!"

Narumi grinned brightly up at him, bouncing on the balls of her feet eagerly as she greeted him.

"Hi Kakashi-sensei!"

Kakashi discreetly flicked his eyes over the young kunoichi, and let out a long mental sigh of relief. She didn't appear harmed in any way, whole, healthy and bouncy as ever. He felt the tension that had been present in his spine ever since he'd woken up to hear that two of his students had been attacked by s-ranked nuke-nin with abduction intent slowly melt away.

Almost instinctively the Hatake's eye flicked from the center figure to the two shinobi flanking her. Sasuke looked a little tired, but it was Saburo who caught his attention. The young rosette seemed relaxed enough, but his eyes had a numb, glazed look.

Kakashi felt his concern spike again, and resisted an urge to run his hand through his hair. It was a nervous habit that he'd dropped after the Kyuubi-attack, causing his hair to lose its swept back look, but lately he'd felt it attempting to resurge.

He couldn't help wondering if he, Obito, and Rin had caused Minato-sensei this much worry and stress. It was entirely possible, considering they'd been operating in the midst of a war that involved most of the shinobi war. Sending a mental apology out to the man, he stood back and waved lazily at his students.

"Well, I'm assuming you're here for a reason, so you might as well come in."

Sasuke preceded his teammates into the entrance way, tugging off his combat sandals and glancing around warily. Kakashi suppressed his chuckle, keeping his voice mild.

"She's gone, Sasuke."

The Uchiha scowled defensively at him, straightening and gliding cooly on into the living room as if he'd never paused. Saburo and Narumi exchanged a glance before following after their teammate. Saburo nodded wearily to Kakashi as he passed.

"Thanks, Sensei."

Closing the door and flipping the lock, Kakashi shed his own sandals and holster, following his genin into the living room. The three of them had seated themselves on the couch in their standard formation, the boys sandwiching Narumi between them.

Circling the couch, he stood in front of the three of them, and gave them another smile, voice easy and soothing.

"So, Narumi. Jiraya-sama and Tsunade-sama tell me you had a productive trip?"

The blonde nodded cheerfully, punching the air enthusiastically.

"Sure did!I trained really hard, 'ttebayo!"

Kakashi chuckled slightly, tone affectionate.

"I never doubted it, Narumi-chan."

Crouching in front of the girl, he looked her over carefully, letting her see his scrutiny this time.

"You ran into Orochimaru, didn't you? Are you alright?"

Narumi let out a put-upon sigh.

"Sensei! I just told Sasuke and Saburo-kun that I'm fine!"

Kakashi lifted his visible eyebrow, voice serious.

"Narumi."

The blonde wilted, bravado leeching out of her as she dropped her gaze and hunched her shoulders. When she spoke, her voice was meek and apologetic.

"I'm alright, Sensei. Really. I got a little banged up during the fight, but Baa-chan fixed me up pretty good."

Kakashi reached out and caught hold of the girls wrist, pulling it towards him and examining her palm. There was no trace of the wound he knew she'd gotten from Kabuto. As soon as the other two Sannin had told him their fallen comrade had been in contact with his student, he'd demanded a list of her injuries. Releasing her wrist, he looked at her carefully.

"You're sure you're alright?"

Narumi nodded, blue eyes honest as she met his gaze.

"Yes, Sensei."

Reaching out to ruffle her hair, Kakashi stood and retreated to the armchair across from the couch and dropped easily back into it. He'd been assured of her physical condition by Tsunade, but hadn't relaxed until he'd verified it himself. Likewise, he couldn't drop the issue of possible mental or emotional strain until he'd verified the lack of such hurts himself.

"By the way, congratulations on making Chuunin."

Narumi brightened, and smiled widely back at him.

"Thanks, Kakashi-sensei!"

Saburo's eyes widened, and he looked mildly indignant.

"Sensei! How did-?"

Kakashi chuckled slightly.

"Jounin-sensei are always informed of chuunin promotion. Don't worry, this won't affect the team assignment."

Sitting back slightly, he took a long look at the three of his students. Fixing them with a gently questioning gaze that he'd often received from his own Sensei in his own younger days, he waited.

After a moment, Sasuke leaned forward, and gave Saburo a definite look from across Narumi. The rosette met the Uchiha's dark gaze, and suddenly looked tired. Dropping his head slightly, he stared at the floor between his feet, refusing to meet Kakashi's eyes despite the deliberate lightness of his tone.

"O-oh yeah. Sensei, I...I'm, uh...moving out."

Kakashi furrowed his brows, narrowing his eyes as he looked at the boy. This was unexpected, and Saburo's tone worried him. Suspicions rising, he fixed the boy with an unwavering stare.

"You're moving out of your family home?"

Narumi whipped around to stare at him, eyes wide and shocked. Saburo lifted a finger to scratch his cheek, laughing weakly.

"Eh...yeah."

Narumi squeaked, apparently unable to force her throat to properly function. Kakashi zoomed in on the steadiest of his three students, suddenly deeply concerned. Saburo didn't strike him as the type to make a hasty decision about something this big.

"May I ask why?"

Saburo flushed heavily, and dropped his eyes with a miserable expression. Sasuke huffed sharply, and his chin snapped up, black eyes snapping furiously as they locked on Kakashi.

"He's moving out because his civilian family is giving him hell about being a shinobi, and trying to force him to leave the team and turn shopkeeper!"

Kakashi's eyes flicked back and forth between Saburo's shamed face, and Sasuke's indignant anger. This was an unexpected development. He knew that Saburo had been having some sort of difficulty, but it hadn't seemed to bother the boy too much, and Kakashi knew he'd been confiding in Sasuke, so he hadn't worried. Now, however, things were beginning to look a lot more serious than he had suspected.

"Saburo, why don't you start at the beginning and tell me what's been going on?"

The rosette sighed heavily, looking determinedly over Kakashi's shoulder as he spoke, and ignoring the alarmed gaze of his female teammate as he spoke. The cadence of his voice, and the dry, factual way he spoke about the events echoed the voice he delivered oral mission reports in.

"After the invasion, my family became consciously aware that being a ninja was dangerous. During the aftermath, my parents approached me and suggested that perhaps shinobi life was not the...proper...path for me. As time progressed, my brothers joined them in that assessment, and also did their best to convince me."

Saburo's throat bobbed as he swallowed, and the jounin could see that his student was fighting to keep his voice even and calm.

"I thought they would drop the matter but...after the Sandaime's funeral, my parents called me in one night and flat out forbade me to continue as a shinobi."

Kakashi tensed, frown deepening. He'd had no idea Saburo had been having such troubles with his family. He'd thought it was just a small quarrel. On the other hand, he should have guessed the boy would run into this sort of trouble. Civilian families of first generation ninja rarely understood their children's decisions and views.

"Of course, I refused to listen to them. That made them pretty angry. My brothers are really strict about filial piety, so they got angry with me too. Things just kept getting worse, and for the past couple of weeks, every time I talk to any of them it ends up in a shouting match about my 'immature rebellion'."

Saburo's voice tinged with resentment on those last two words, and Kakashi could understand why. Genin were still very young, that was true. But as ninja, they frequently dealt with harder and more frightening situations than most civilian adults ever faced, and as such they matured very quickly. Saburo in particular had proven himself level-headed both on and off the battlefield, with a strong sense of duty to match. Kakashi was quite proud of the boy, who was turning into a remarkably fine shinobi despite his civilian roots.

Saburo cleared his throat, and continued on, forcing the resentment from his voice as he continued with his summary of the events leading up to his decision.

"About a week ago, I found out that my parents had gone to the ninja administrational affairs building and tried to get me removed from the ranks."

That particular admission came out in a small voice, and Saburo's shoulders hunched a bit. Kakashi narrowed his eyes, enraged. Being upset about their son choosing a life that put him at constant risk was one thing. Attempting to force one of Kakashi's students to leave his comrades behind was another entirely.

"I thought that it'd be alright if I just waited for it to blow over. That they'd calm down after they realized that I wasn't going to cave and they couldn't force me back into civilian life. But when Sasuke came to my house today, I came downstairs and found my brothers talking to him..."

Sasuke took up the narrative here, still glaring at Kakashi furiously, as if he were daring the jounin to second guess Saburo's decision.

"They were spewing a lot of junk about Saburo not being fit to be a shinobi. Said he never should have graduated and was only going to put the whole team at risk, and told me that for both our sakes I should talk to our superiors about getting Saburo discharged."

Kakashi stared. Slowly, he brought his eyes around to Saburo, voice soft and deadly.

"Is this true?"

Saburo jerked his head in a sharp nod, looking unhappy and uncomfortable. Narumi scowled, voice indignant.

"That's stupid! You're a great shinobi Saburo-kun!"

Kakashi nodded once, voice cool and calm, doing his best to suppress his anger so as not to alarm the three kids sitting across from him. He was getting very tired of people trying to interfere with, or harm, his students.

"Well then, I think you've made the right decision Saburo. The environment is obviously stressful and difficult for you."

Saburo looked up, relief glinting in his eyes. Kakashi sighed slightly.

"I'm sorry you've had to deal with this Saburo."

Reaching up to rub the back of his neck wearily, he regarded the boy carefully.

"Well, that still leaves the problem of where you'll be living from now on..."

Saburo suddenly grinned and shook his head, perking up considerably.

"It's alright, Sensei. Sasuke said I could stay with him at the old Uchiha compound."

Kakashi's brows shot up, and he regarded the darkest of his students in surprise. Sasuke huffed and looked away, crossing his arms firmly over his chest and refusing to meet his teachers gaze. Laugh lines crinkled the corner of Kakashi's visible eye.

Even before the massacre, the Uchiha clan had been notorious for keeping outsiders out of their compound, guarding their homes jealously. Even Obito bringing Kakashi and Rin onto the grounds or into his own home from time to time had been extremely unusual and looked upon by the other clan members with a certain amount of displeasure. It was an attitude that Sasuke had unconsciously continued, refusing to allow others into the compound after the deaths of his family.

Eyeing the two of them, Kakashi relaxed slightly, some of the tension that had returned to him on discovering the situation with the Haruno family leaving him. This way Saburo would be taken care of, and Sasuke wouldn't be left alone in a ghost town haunted by bloody memories. It would be good for both of them. Plus, he'd be willing to bet that Narumi started showing up at the compound more often if both her teammates were living there.

Looking over the three of them carefully, he questioned them in a very mild tone of voice.

"Is there any other news you wanted to share with me?"

When the three of them shook their head silently, Kakashi nodded once and stood.

"Alright then. Sasuke, I want you and Saburo to lay out both the spare futons in here. Narumi, would you see if you could make a bed on the couch?"

The three of them blinked up at him in confusion, and Narumi was the one to question him.

"...um...why, Sensei?"

Kakashi gave them a slightly surprised look, feigning confusion.

"Well, the three of you have to sleep somewhere."

Narumi frowned at him, mouth slightly open as she stood up along with the boys.

"I can understand Sasuke and Saburo staying over Sensei, but I have my own apartment..."

Kakashi snorted, cocking his head and shooting her a look that perfectly conveyed his feelings about that particular suggestion.

"You want to go home while the boys stay over?"

Truthfully, Kakashi still wasn't totally convinced that Narumi was as spryly cheerful and unaffected by recent events as she liked to say she was. He'd feel much better if he had her under his eye for at least a couple of days. But saying that would only send her off home insisting that she was fine. Implying that she was being left out of a team exercise or event on the other hand would coax her to stay.

Brightening as she realized the implication behind his words, Narumi whooped and sprinted across the room to wrap her arms tightly around his middle, squeezing him in an exuberant hug before whirling back across the room with a bounce in her step. Catching Saburo by the wrist, she dragged him off towards the closet where such things were stored, crowing as she went.

"Yes! Sleepover!"

Kakashi chuckled at the girls antics, relieved to see that her ebullient nature had lifted some of the gloom surrounding Saburo and shifted his expression from miserable to bewildered. Sasuke looked mildly appalled and affronted at the implication that he would be involved in anything so girly as a sleepover.

Stifling his amusement, Kakashi left the room and padded down the hall to the entry way, tugging his combat sandals back on. Sasuke came out into the hall after him, voice inquisitive as he watched the jounin strap on basic gear.

"Sensei? Where are you going?"

Kakashi glanced over his shoulder at the boy. Sasuke was standing in the middle of the hall, watching him in slight confusion. Saburo had half stepped out of the living room, eyes slightly curious, and Narumi had leaned her head and shoulders around the doorframe to peek at him, interest flickering across her face.

"Oh, I'm just going to pick up some of Saburo's things. He'll be needing some clean clothes, don't you think?"

Saburo and Narumi nodded uncertainly, while Sasuke just cocked his head thoughtfully at him. Kakashi smiled softly, and treated them to a casual two-fingered salute.

"Not to worry, I'll be back in no time."

WIth that, he slipped out the door, and leapt for the nearest roof. As he made his way across the village, his gut twisted angrily. Of course, he would be bringing back some of Saburo's things, mainly because he didn't want the boy having to come in more contact with his family than absolutely necessary right now.

However, he had another purpose, one that he though Sasuke probably suspected. He sighed. The curse of having a student who was so similar to yourself at that age. Angling towards the street where the Haruno residence stood, he clenched one hand into a fist. Someone needed to set these people straight about the consequences of interfering with Kakashi's team, and he intended to be the one to do it.

When he reached the moderate civilian home, he left the roofs and alighted silently on the doorstep. Forcefully tamping down his simmering anger, he carefully relaxed his face until it had attained his usual expression of lazy confidence and calm.

Lifting his hand, he knocked at the door firmly. There was a moment of quiet where he could hear the murmuring and scuffling of feet inside the house. After a bit, the door unlocked and swung open to reveal a slender young man wearing glasses.

"Oh, sorry Saburo. I must have forgotten to put the spare key out for..."

The boys far too smooth voice trailed off as he got a good look at Kakashi, the slight smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth fading away. Kakashi resisted the urge to smack the brat, and smiled pleasantly at him.

"Hello. I am Special Jounin Hatake, in command of team seven. I'm here to speak to the Haruno's?"

Kakashi chose his words very carefully as he addressed the boy. He wanted these people to understand just who and what he was in relation to them and their youngest son. And if that understanding was something they found intimidating, so much the better.

The young man at the door stared at him, and then stepped back uncertainly, allowing him to step forward into the hall. As Kakashi moved into the house with a polite nod, the boy seemed to recover his confidence, adjusting his glasses as he eyed the jounin.

"I see. Then that means-?"

Kakashi cut the boy off mercilessly, pretending not to notice the other teen hovering uncertainly in the hall.

"I would like to speak with your parents."

Annoyance flashed across the boys face, but he nodded, beckoning to his brother as the two of them headed for the doorway on the right side of the hall. Kakashi followed after them, tucking his hands into his pockets nonchalantly.

The two adolescents walked over to where a man and a woman sat murmuring together on a loveseat. The woman of the couple had dark, reddish-brown hair caught up in a bun, while the solidly built man had dirty-blonde hair. Both looked like perfectly ordinary civilians.

The couple looked up sternly as he walked into the room, their expressions melting away into uncertainty and surprise when they saw him. Kakashi didn't show it, but irritation flushed through him as he realized that the situation he was walking into had been meant for Saburo, and it was an encounter that had been carefully calculated to be hurtful.

The adolescents moved to flank their parents, the one in glasses sitting in a chair to the side of the couch while the other leaned on the back of the couch itself. Ignoring the defensive, wary set of their shoulders, Kakashi glided smoothly into the center of the room, facing the Haruno family idly.

"Haruno-san."

Dipping his head, he left it ambiguous who exactly he was addressing as he smoothly introduced himself.

"As I just told your sons, I am Special Jounin Hatake, in command of team seven."

The man blinked in surprise, and hauled himself up, extending his hand towards Kakashi pompously.

"Ah, I see. That would make you Saburo's teacher then?"

Kakashi eyed the mans hand, not returning the gesture as he spoke in a voice both firm and cool.

"Commander."

The other man blinked uncertainly at him, shifting and then quickly dropping his hand to scrub his palm against his pants.

"I beg your pardon?"

Kakashi smiled slightly, voice still calmly impersonal.

"Saburo-kun is a member of my team, one of my subordinates."

Inclining his head slightly, he smoothly acquiesced to the fact hidden in the implication of the mans statement.

"That would make me his jounin-sensei, so yes, I am in charge of his instruction in the field."

The man looked a little befuddled, obviously not quite able to comprehend Saburo having a superior as opposed to a teacher. Clearly the man had been content to think of the whole exercise of making genin as some sort of Academy class with extended field trips. Shaking his head, the man determinedly brought the conversation back into waters that he understood.

"Yes, well...this actually very convenient. You're just the man we've been wanting to talk to. You see, the boys mother and I have some concerns..."

Kakashi's hands clenched into fists in his pockets, though his voice remained neutral and calm.

"I'm aware of your concerns. I've been informed you believe Saburo is unfit to carry out his duty as a Shinobi of Konohagakure, and should be discharged from the military forces of the village."

The man looked surprised, but nodded eagerly, twisting his fingers together as he spoke to Kakashi in an exasperated tone.

"Yes, that's it exactly!"

The woman sitting behind him looked up, voice somewhat timid.

"After all, Shinobi-san, this is our Saburo we're talking about. He can't possibly understand what he's getting himself into. We want to pull him out for his own sake."

Her husband nodded importantly, his voice taking on a slightly condescending tone as he spoke about his youngest son.

"Ouka is right. The boy has always been bookish, absorbed in academics. He's much more suited to working accounts in the store than this ninja nonsense. The only reason I let him go to the academy when he asked was because I thought he'd get a better mathematics education. I was surprised he actually managed to graduate, but I assumed that he'd see the futility of the endeavor and come back to the store quickly enough."

Scowling slightly, frustration entered the mans voice alongside the condescension.

"But the damn fool boy refuses to see reason. He's not grounded and responsible like Akio here, always has his head in the clouds and too stubborn to accept that we know what's best for him."

The man glanced at the slightly smug looking boy in glasses, before looking back to Kakashi.

"We've tried to pull him out, but we were told that only Saburo himself, or his teacher could make such a request."

Here the man snorted in almost amusement.

"Actually told us that it was the business of the ninja and their superior officer. Imagine that, acting as if a child has any idea how to make decisions like that, that affect their whole life! And now, Akio and Shizaki tell me that the boys taken it into his head to run off!"

Taking a deep breath, Kakashi reminded himself that the man meant well. He was only trying to look out for his son in the best way he knew how. He simply didn't understand what Saburo had become, and what exactly it was that he was proposing.

When he had enough control of his emotions that his voice was less likely to come out a sakki-laden bellow, Kakashi met the mans gaze with hard, narrowed eyes. His sharingan had slid open behind his hitae-ate, and he had to force himself to close the fiercely spinning eye. The feeling of chakra feeding into it in preparation for battle made him wonder if Obito was silently agreeing with him.

"Haruno-san, I think you're misunderstanding something here. I'm not here to inform you of your sons impending discharge from my team. Quite the opposite in fact."

The mans eyes turned uncertain, and he took a step slightly back. The two boys fixed disbelieved gazes on him, and the woman stared with an open mouth. Kakashi allowed himself a certain vindictive pleasure in the shock he was causing as he continued on, careful to give no sign that he had noticed their reactions.

"Saburo-kun and his teammates have brought this matter to my attention, and I believe whole heartedly that he has made the correct decision. Arrangements have already been made for his new living conditions. I came by to let you know that my team will be collecting Saburo-kun's belongings over the next few days."

The civilian family gaped at him, and Kakashi looked cooly back.

"Also, I'm going to have to ask you to limit your contact with Saburo-kun for a while. You've become a source of stress for him, and the more stressed he is, the worse he will preform in the field. That could potentially get him, and his teammates killed."

The man spluttered, and interestingly, it was the eldest son, Akio, who surged up from his chair and snarled angrily at Kakashi.

"You can't do that!"

Kakashi felt a very predatory grin curl across his mouth beneath his mask, enjoying the situation greatly.

"On the contrary, this isn't even pushing the boundaries. As Saburo-kun's jounin-sensei, I have full authority over training methods, as well as both the right and duty to remove him from any unnecessarily damaging environment htat he encounters off-duty."

Shrugging slightly, he looked thoughtfully up at the ceiling.

"Well, when the Godaime is instated, she could order me to withdraw my support of Saburo-kun in this, but I doubt she will. And furthermore, even if I were to withdraw my support, he is already a ninja of the village. If he chooses to live on his own, that's his decision."

Saburo's father finally found his voice, scowling indignantly at Kakashi.

"He's just a kid, he can't make these kind of decisions clearly! He'll end up rushing off in the heat of the moment and doing something he'll regret."

Kakashi snorted skeptically, not bothering to disguise the noise at all as he stared the man down.

"First of all, under my command Saburo-kun has proven himself to be remarkably sensible and reasonable given his age. Second, he ceased to be a child the moment he first donned the Hitae-ate. He is young, I will give you that. As such, he sometimes needs advice, guidance, and even reprimand from his superiors. But to continue to treat him as a child would dishonor Saburo-kun, me, and his service to the village."

Narrowing his eyes further, and allowing just a hint of menace and anger to color his tone, he added in a very quiet voice.

"Also, Saburo-kun is a fine shinobi. He does not deserve to be disparaged like this."

Turning sharply to the boy standing rigidly behind the couch, he fixed him with a stern glance. His voice took on the barking growl that he often heard Ibiki use with his subordinates who had displeased him.

"You. Go pack a small bag with clean clothing and necessities for Saburo-kun, and bring it back to me."

Jumping, the boy nodded stiffly and vanished out the door. The rest of the family still seemed unable to speak, too shocked and disturbed to force their voices to work. Kakashi huffed his contempt, and waited, arms crossed across his chest, feet spread apart aggressively.

When the boy returned with a small duffel in hand, Kakashi snatched it from his fingers, and slung it over his shoulder, inclining his head mockingly to four frozen figures staring dazedly at him.

"Good evening."

Too irritated to use the door, Kakashi gathered up his chakra, and used shunshin. Cool night air washed over his face as he found himself standing outside his own door. Leaning his forehead against the wood, he took a moment to steady himself mentally.

When he was sure he had calmed down adequately, he opened the door, and strode into the apartment, calling out cheerfully as he went.

"I'm back. Are you three done yet?"

When he walked into the living room, he found the couch covered in blankets, with a pillow at one end, and both futons spread neatly on the floor in the center of the room. His three students were sitting in a ring on one of the futons, gear temporarily discarded as they chattered.

Shaking his head fondly, he dropped the duffel behind Saburo.

"Narumi, Sasuke, I'll want you two to collect Saburo's things from his house. You can move them to wherever he sets up in the Uchiha compound."

Crouching just outside the little circle formed by the three sleepy-looking genin, he ruffled Saburo's hair reassuringly.

"Not to worry, I've spoken with your family. They won't bother you for a while."

Saburo smiled thankfully up at the jounin, and Kakashi dismissed it with a wave of his hand. Sitting back, he looked around and sighed.

"You three already had dinner at Ichiraku's, right?"

When they nodded, he relaxed slightly. He didn't think the amount of food he stocked his kitchen with would have stood up to the onslaught of his students appetites. Straightening, he rubbed the back of his neck slightly.

"Narumi, you take the bedroom tonight. The boys and I will sleep in here."

The girl nodded dutifully, and scrambled to her feet.

"I'll go run a bath!"

So saying, she took off for the hall. Saburo watched her go in confusion before looking at Kakashi.

"Sensei? Why isn't Narumi sleeping in here?"

Sasuke didn't say anything, but Kakashi could see the questioning tilt of his head clearly enough. He had to stifle a laugh. Vaguely, he wondered if all young shinobi were this dense when it came to Kunoichi. He certainly hadn't felt dense...but then, he supposed Minato-sensei would have been too kind to enlighten him if he had been.

"Maa, Narumi-chan is a girl after all. Camping out together or sharing rooms when we're outside the village is one thing. Within the village is a different matter."

Laughing inwardly at the blush that stained Saburo's cheeks, and the hasty way Sasuke turned his face away, he flowed towards the kitchen. He'd fix himself something to eat, and if he was lucky, he might even get in some 'Icha-Icha' reading while the kids were bathing!

* * *

><p>Danzo leaned back in his chair, the low lighting of his office focused on the dark figure kneeling in front of him, head down submissively as the man reported, voice nondescript and empty of emotion.<p>

"We've received word from our informant within the group, Danzo-sama. Akatsuki has begun to move. They were definitely attempting to take the Kyuubi Jinchuriki. They intend to continue their attempts in the future, possibly with more subtlety."

Keeping his voice calm and blank, Danzo allowed himself the small luxury of thinking aloud, ignoring the man who'd just reported. It was old news. Very old news indeed, seeing as the attempt had taken place nearly a month before. He'd just wanted to verify that the attempt had indeed been authorized by the organization. After all, you could never be sure with nuke-nin.

"I can use this. Oh yes, I can use this nicely. The jinchuriki is growing far too comfortable, far too soft, with that team of hers."

The old mans face curled into a silent snarl as he looked down at the files spread across the surface of his desk.

"That damn Hatake. His sensei ruined my plans for becoming Hokage, and now he's ruining my weapon before I've even gotten my hands on it."

Forcing himself to regain his calm, he smoothed his voice back out, feeling the sharingan eyes implanted in his arm twitch. Shisui's eye slid open in its place occupying his right eye-socket, rolling wildly behind the bandages that concealed it.

"Well, no matter. I can turn this to my advantage."

Standing from his chair, he braced the palm of his good arm against the table and leaned heavily forward, eye fixed unseeingly on the darkened doorway behind the crouching man before him.

"Quickly, before Tsunade settles into office. Homura and Koharu will support me in this, given the right persuasive argument. The weapon must be controlled, and used for the peace of Konoha. It is imperative."

Contemplating how much easier it would be to get around Tsunade and whatever objections or claims she might make, he reflected with satisfaction that it was wise to have Orochimaru get rid of Hiruzen. While he deeply mourned for the man who had been Sandaime, he would allow no one, not even his dearest childhood friend, to endanger the village.

After all, his aged friend had been growing far too soft and senile to properly guide the village. Danzo would be able to take care of things so much better now that the demented old coot was out of the way. Yes, the shadow alliance with Orochimaru was definitely paying off.

Lifting his voice above the murmur that it had been as he talked through his shifting plans, he looked to the root shinobi in front of his desk, voice mild despite the furious turning of wheels in his mind as he adjusted his schemes for the most recent of developments.

"See to it that Homura and Koharu are informed that I would like to meet with them. We have important matters to discuss."

The shinobi in question dropped his head lower in acknowledgment of the order and vanished without a word. Danzo stood for a moment, brushing the tips of his fingers across the files on his desk.

After a moment, he snatched up one particularly prominent folder, and flipped it open. Clipped to the inside was a photograph of a young girl with bright hair, blue eyes, and a wide, infectious grin.

Danzo smirked down at her, eyes trailing down the page as he read through information documenting every attack and slight that the village had committed against the kunoichi. Flipping idly to the page that held her stats and records of her growth, he brushed a fingertip idly against the swirling symbol of her clan embossed in the top right corner of the page.

'_Soon. Soon I shall put you to your proper use, as it should have been from the beginning. For Konoha.'_

* * *

><p>Sasuke and Saburo took the long way to the Uchiha compound, skirting the edge of the village. Sasuke and Narumi had spent the majority of the day boxing up Saburo's things. Sasuke smirked wryly, remembering how often he'd had to restrain a vengeful blonde from launching herself at the lurking Haruno brothers.<p>

After Narumi and Sasuke had finished boxing everything up, they'd left for the day and gone to meet Saburo at a little tea stand not far from the training grounds where he'd spent his day. When they arrived, the rosette told them that Kakashi had left on a mission, and had insisted that he and Sasuke go figure out where in the compound Saburo would be staying before they went home for the night.

Sasuke figured that that had been Kakashi-sensei's way of making sure Sasuke remembered that Saburo would have to start staying at the compound tonight, instead of tomorrow. After all, it wasn't like he could stay at Kakashi-sensei's when the man was out of the village.

So after they finished their tea and dango, they said goodnight to Narumi, and the team split up. Narumi cut across town towards her own apartment building, while the boys moved in the direction of the Uchiha compound.

Saburo, knowing that public relations was not Sasuke's strong suit, had suggested that they take the long way, skirting the village proper to avoid the evening crowds. By the time they'd made it halfway around the village, dusk had deepened to night, a silvery moon suspended in the sky above them.

Sasuke was telling Saburo about the dojo in the compound, when the rosette suddenly snapped his head up and around, eyes shuttling over the shadows beneath the nearby trees. Sasuke instantly fell silent, eyes sharpening and fingers twitching toward his holster.

"Saburo? What is it?"

The rosette shook his head uneasily, voice low.

"I don't know. Just...I thought I felt something coming. Ninja maybe."

Sasuke looked towards the shadows, and then nodded once to his teammate.

"You're better at chakra sensing than I am. Drop back and conceal yourself. If anything happens we'll be better off if you launch a stealth attack and we catch the attacker between us."

Saburo frowned at him, and opened his mouth to protest. Sasuke cut him off before he could.

"I trust that you can sense someone coming. Trust me to handle my end of things."

Saburo still looked uncertain, hesitating for half a second.

"Shouldn't we go for help...?"

Sasuke shook his head, glancing around quickly, easing the latch of his holster open as he spread out his senses.

"No time."

Saburo nodded unhappily, and faded back into the shadows, vanishing with the faint flutter of a genjutsu falling into place brushing against Sasuke's senses. Drawing a kunai, the Uchiha shoved both hands into his pockets, laying the flat of the blade back against the inside of his wrist.

Casually, he continued on, strolling through the trees within sight of dark windowed buildings. It wasn't long before he felt the sear of strong chakra presences flaring against his senses. Startled, he looked up in time to see four figures silhouetted against the moon.

Four strange ninja landed in a rough semicircle in front of him, each wearing a long tan tunic beneath a large purple rope belt. One kunoichi, three shinobi. Their hitae-ate marked them as Oto-nin. Sasuke tensed, glaring at them and snarling, though he didn't remove his hands from his pockets.

"Who the hell are you...?"

One with a hairstyle that closely resembled that favored by the Nara's tucked his chin, smirking widely at the genin.

"The Sound four, East Gate's Kidoumaru."

The largest frowned at him seriously, pale eyes sharp against the shadowed skin of his face.

"Same, South Gate's Jiroubou.

The silver haired man with dark red lips tilted his head back, a mad glint in his eye, his voice nearly a purr.

"Same, West Gate's Sakon."

The Kunoichi tipped her head slightly, glaring at him from around a jagged forelock.

"Same. North Gate's Tayuya."

Sasuke sank back into a defensive stance, intensifying his glare. His eyes flickered back and forth between them cautiously. Suddenly they blurred out of his sight, whirling around him at high speed.

Sensing an attack incoming, the young Uchiha spun to the side, bringing his arms up into block, catching the arm of the one who called himself Sakon. The strength of the impact caused him to drop the kunai. Gripping the older ninja's arm tightly, he pushed himself up off the ground, pulling him down even as he rolled forward over the enemies back.

When he hit the ground, he threw his weight forward, wrenching the man forward and throwing him into a nearby tree trunk with a satisfyingly solid thunk. On his flight, Sakon crashed into Tayuya, slamming her back against the trunk as she cushioned his own landing.

Jiroubou surged up behind him, and Sasuke spun, ducking the fist and snatching the big mans tunic, throwing himself in a circle and using the weight of his own body to sling the man around and pitch him after his fellows.

The Uchiha was just about to launch himself after the three downed enemies, when a sticky, rope-like thing wrapped around his right arm, yanking him back sharply. The three figures slumped at the base of the tree transmuted to logs with a puff of white smoke, and he looked behind him to see all four enemies arrayed behind him.

Kidoumaru's jaw was wide open, the sticky web trailing from his mouth to Sasuke's arm. The Uchiha grimaced, staring at them furiously. Sakon stepped forward, grinning too wide as he eyed Sasuke.

"This'll be fun. I'll make a nice melody of your breaking ribs."

Sasuke gritted his teeth, staring them down. Kidoumaru suddenly whipped his head to the side, dragging Sasuke into the air by his arm and slamming his back into the trunk of the very tree he'd slammed the other three Oto-nin into.

White starbursts exploded in front of his eyes, and he locked his jaw tightly as he felt a rib crack. A memory of Saburo wrapped in the coils of Orochimaru's serpentine body, being squeezed until his ribcage gave under the pressure. He could suddenly empathize with his teammates screams much more deeply.

Distantly he heard Sakon's gleeful cackling.

"Wow, your bones have a low tone. Let's make...a more high pitched sound, eh?"

Kidoumaru yanked at his arm again, tossing him through the air towards Sakon, the rope finally disengaging from his arm. He twisted around, just in time to see a blur of pink and dark red cannon into Sakon's side.

Sakon saw thrown violently out of the Uchiha's path, and Sasuke was able to twist around and land on the wall of the silent building the Oto-nin had had his back to. Saburo rolled the silver haired shinobi across the roof, ending up on top of him, and slamming a fist hard into his side.

Sakon screamed, and Sasuke felt the burst of chakra from his teammate. Saburo bared his teeth in a dangerous grin, slamming another blow across the Oto-nin's face, before leaping back to stand warily alongside Sasuke.

"What was that you said about breaking ribs?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes in amusement, eyeing the cursing Sakon as he struggled to his feet. The Oto-nin bared his teeth wildly at the rosette as he and his fellows closed in on the two Konoha genin.

Tayuya suddenly lunged forward towards them. Sasuke dodged to one side, while Saburo went the other way. Kidoumaru opened his mouth, spitting out a web. Saburo's eyes widened, and he flung one arm up, yanking it out of the danger zone as the web wrapped around his other arm and torso, dragging him back and securing him to the wall of the building behind him.

Sasuke drew in a sharp breath, but didn't dare call out to his teammate, instinctively feeling it would be a bad idea. When Tayuya, Kidoumaru, and Jiroubou turned to come after him, he realized he was the main target.

Saburo brought his free arm down, reaching for his holster. It was instantly secured to the outside of the web, but he was able to throw a kunai at Jiroubou's back with a snap of his wrist. The big shinobi dodged it, and threw a glance back at Sakon.

The last of the four Oto-nin cackled gleefully, face vindictive as he leapt to Saburo and punched him hard across the face. Saburo's body went limp as he lost consciousness. Sasuke's sharingan whirled to life, and he snarled, lunging toward the Oto-nin.

Tayuya twisted out of his way, and Jiroubou smashed a fist down between his shoulder blades as he passed, and Sasuke found himself plowing face down into the earth. His thoughts temporarily scattered, and pain lanced up and down his spine, shooting off to spear through his cracked rib.

For a moment he lay prone and dizzy on the ground, before someone grabbed his ankle and hauled him up into the air, until he dangled upside down, blinking eyes that had returned to solid black as he stared blankly up at Sakon. The rest of the Oto-nin stood around him, staring down dispassionately.

Sakon smirked down at him contemptuously, voice scoffing.

"Hah. Why does Orochimaru-sama want a weakling like this? Even pinkie over there managed to get a solid hit in, which is apparently beyond this brat."

Snorting, he spit, just missing Sasuke's head.

"You know, if you stay in this village, you're going to stay a weakling. Playing family games with your comrades like this, it'll only make you rot."

Sasuke stared silently up, fighting to make his limbs listen to him, but unable to gather his thoughts. Tayuya jerked her chin at Saburo, her eyes flinty as she stared at him.

"If you keep on this path, you'll end up like your foolish, weak teammate. Come with us. If you do, Orochimaru-sama will give you strength."

Anger surged through Sasuke's veins at the insult to his comrade. Saburo had been caught because they were outnumbered, and outclassed. And he'd fought until he'd been knocked out. He deserved better than to be looked down on by trash that served that traitorous snake!

As his anger boiled, a bright, hot pain flared on the side of his neck. Wincing against the sensation, he reached for the odd mark on his neck. Sakon swore and threw him into a nearby tree, snarling at him.

"Quit messing around and make up your mind. Are you coming with us or not?"

Sasuke braced his free hand against the trunk behind him, scrambling into a crouch as he bared his teeth defiantly at the four older ninja surrounding him.

"Like hell!"

Sakon sighed, hair falling forward to curtain his eyes as the four of them stared blankly back at the dark haired boy.

"Orochimaru-sama can be such a pain...I really just wanna kill a brat this weak."

Kidoumaru snorted, tilting his head back with a sharp laugh.

"You know you can't do that, Sakon. If you're feeling so antsy, why not kill the extra over there?"

So saying he jerked his thumb over his shoulder at Saburo's limp form. Sasuke's anger spiked to rage, and suddenly that same burning heat was spreading across his body. Black flames wriggled across his skin as he clutched at his neck, sharingan whirling to life as he growled wildly up at them.

"Just try it!"

Determined to get to Sakon before the Oto-nin could make a move on his helpless friend, he shot towards him with a roar. Power flooded his veins, hot, and thick. Part of him reveled in it, and a part of him was disgusted by the sluggish heat of it. Either way, he intended to use it.

Or at least, he did until Sakon backhanded him and sent him tumbling back into the dirt. Looking up, his eyes widened as he saw strange, wormlike markings wriggling across the crazed mans skin, much as his own black flames had just a moment before.

Sakon grinned at him, combing his long, floppy bangs back with one hand, and sticking his tongue out mockingly at him, apparently un-phased by Sasuke's attempted attack.

"You're not the only one that Orochimaru-sama has his eyes on, brat!"

Sasuke stared up at him with wide eyes, wondering idly if he looked so sickening when black markings twisted wildly across his skin to flood his veins with equally twisted power. Sakon ignored his reaction, speaking in a sing-song voice.

"The cursed seal isn't something that should be used so carefully. Especially by someone like you who can't control it. If you keep releasing it, the seal will slowly invade your body. By the looks of things, you're still in stage one, but when it's completely taken over..."

Sasuke shuddered, the seal receding as Tayuya took up the cold lecture.

"You'll lose all free will. Instead of gaining power, you'll become the slave of Orochimaru-sama. However, we can prevent that."

Shrugging, she looked down at him dispassionately.

"To gain something, you must be willing to sacrifice something else."

Sasuke growled up at them.

"I'm not betraying the village!"

Before he knew what had happened, Jiroubou had snatched his arms and wrenched them behind his back, holding him still. Tayuya snorted, her voice contemptuous as she moved towards him.

"You don't have a choice."

Kidoumaru suddenly snapped his head around, posture alert.

"Tayuya! Incoming. Two low-level chuunin!"

Tayuya swore quietly, and jerked her head towards Saburo.

"Move, now! Leave no evidence."

Sasuke swore, fighting to free himself as the brunette Oto-nin leapt to stand in front of Saburo. Jiroubou's hands tightened on his arms, and Tayuya stepped to his side, murmuring under her breath as she lifted a rigid hand above him.

"My apologies, Sasuke-sama."

Something struck the back of his neck sharply, and Sasuke gasped, vision fading and limbs weakening as his eyes slowly slid closed. The last thing he saw before he slumped into the dark oblivion of unconsciousness was Kidoumaru peeling away his web, leaving Saburo's body to fall bonelessly forward. The Uchiha was out before his friend hit the ground.

* * *

><p>Narumi was curled happily into her bed, snuggling against her pillow, when a loud banging echoed through her tiny home. The banging was accompanied by a chakra flare, and the combination had her surging up out of bed, and halfway to her holster before she registered what was going on.<p>

Once she did, she relaxed and yawned, rubbing at her eyes as she blinked sleepily at the door. Wondering what could possibly be going on, she padded over to it, tugging down the bunched tank top she wore to bed, and scrubbing a hand against her long, soft pants.

When she pulled the door open, she was confronted by an unfamiliar chuunin, who only just managed to pull his hand back in time to keep from knocking on her forehead. The man nodded to her distractedly, and spoke briskly.

"Godaime-sama has requested your presence in her office. You have a mission."

So saying, he leapt away. Narumi stared after him, surprised. Then she closed the door and scrambled back into her apartment, excited and nervous. As she dragged her clothes from the closet and began to dress, she wondered what was going on.

She knew chuunin were sometimes summoned suddenly for an unexpected mission, but this was the first time it had happened to her. As she slipped her jacket over her arms and strapped on her holster, she realized something that made her nerves skyrocket.

'_Kakashi-sensei's out of the village. This'll be team seven's first mission without him!'_

Before she fixed on her weapons pouch, she stocked it with the extra supplies that she carried for missions, and then left the apartment, locking the door behind her. Leaping across the roofs, she made a beeline for the Hokage tower.

When she reached it, she dropped to the ground, and headed through the main entrance. A chuunin nodded to her, waving her towards the stairs that led to the upper levels of the tower, including the Hokage's office.

Bounding up the stairs, she raced up past the second, third, and fourth floors to the very top of the building. When she reached the last landing, she stepped into the corridor and headed for the door that lead into the Hokage's office. Shizune sat at a desk outside the office, and looked up to smile uncertainly at the blonde.

Suddenly nervous, Narumi smiled back at her, and took a deep breath before opening the door, and walking into the office. Tsunade-baa-chan was sitting behind a desk that was covered in paperwork, and her expression was grave. Looking up, she fixed Narumi with a serious gaze, and beckoned her forward.

"Chuunin Uzumaki."

Narumi's brows shot upwards, but she recognized the official wording, and responded. Stepping up to the desk, she spread her feet apart and locked her hands together behind her back, straightening her shoulders and lifting her chin.

"Hokage-sama."

Narumi was a very cheerful girl. She liked to joke around, take things lightly, and give people nicknames. But when the situation called for it, she could respond with gravity and seriousness. And if Baa-chan was calling her by rank and surname, this was serious.

Tsunade's eyes flickered slightly, and she leaned forward, lacing her fingers together in front of her face.

"Last night, Saburo Haruno was found unconscious on the outskirts of the village by a chuunin patrol."

Narumi's eyes widened, and then narrowed, voice hard and brisk as she growled.

"What happened? Why wasn't I informed sooner?"

Tsunade held up a hand calmly. Even when they were both falling back on their official roles and positions, Narumi would still be more fearless and impudent than anyone else, and Tsunade would still cut her slack.

"You weren't informed because it wasn't brought to my attention until this morning. The chuunin in question did not recognize Genin Haruno. Judging by the lack of attackers, and the fact that his wounds seemed to be bruises from a sparring match, they assumed that he'd been training too hard and passed out from exhaustion."

Narumi opened her mouth to protest, and Tsunade sighed slightly, brown eyes intent.

"It's not that uncommon, Narumi. Training till you drop, that is. Particularly with genin boys. Anyway, the chuunin brought Saburo to the hospital, citing exhaustion, possible dehydration, and a lack of knowledge of his home address. The hospital nightshift was unfamiliar with him as well, so no one thought anything of it."

Tsunade sighed deeply.

"When he came to this morning, he was very upset. Said he'd been attacked. When the hospital staff refused to release him until after he underwent a physical examination, he forced a chuunin to bring a message to me. The news isn't good."

Narumi tensed, vibrating with contained energy. It had to be something to do with Sasuke. Even if the attack had come after they'd already reached the compound, made their decisions about living arrangements, and split for the night, Sasuke would have known if Saburo left the compound. He'd never have let him go alone, and he certainly wouldn't have left Saburo unconscious.

"According to Saburo, he and Sasuke were attacked by four Oto-nin in the service of Orochimaru. He was knocked out during the fight, and when he came to, Sasuke was gone. Based on the information he gave me, I believe that the Uchiha was most likely abducted."

Narumi's eyes flew wide open, and her lips compressed into a thin line, hiding the fact that her canines were lengthening and sharpening. Whirling, she made for the door. Tsunade called out behind her.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Narumi froze, hand on the door as she rumbled low in her throat, voice menacing.

"Permission to pursue, Hokage-sama."

Tsunade's voice was soft and firm behind her, both soothing and authoritative.

"That is why I called you here. This will be your first mission as a chuunin."

Turning and forcing herself to behave as a team leader, she fixed her eyes on Tsunade.

"The mission is to rescue Sasuke?"

Tsunade's brows snapped down, and she looked angry, though Narumi could feel that the anger was directed at the foreign shinobi who had dared to abduct one of their own.

"That's true...however, this mission must be completed quickly above all else. There's a high probability of running into trouble."

Narumi cocked her head questioningly, and Tsunade responded to the unspoken query.

"This isn't the first time something like this has happened in the village. Also, since Sasuke probably didn't go with them willingly, they'll be on their guard, both to keep him from escaping, and to prevent him signaling us. They aren't going to let you reclaim him without a fight."

Fixing her with an intent gaze, Tsunade's voice took on a contemplative twinge.

"Normally I would tell you to take a team comprised only of jounin and chuunin..."

Narumi shook her head sharply, falling back into her more familiar form of address.

"All due respect, Baa-chan, but I don't thing that's a good idea. I'd rather take a team of genin."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow inquisitively.

"Oh? And why is that?"

Narumi shrugged her shoulders slightly as she listed her reasons.

"Most jounin and chuunin are older than I am. I doubt they'd find it easy to take orders from a team leader who's maybe half their age. Power struggles would slow the mission down. Also, my classmates are genin. I'm used to them, and we are all capable of working together when we need to."

Lifting her chin with a hint of challenge, her tone becoming slightly defensive, she growled uneasily.

"Besides, it's not like the genin I'm thinking of are weak Baa-chan."

A slight smile tugged at the corners of the older blondes lips, and she shook her head slightly.

"Good reasons all. And you're right, the rookies this year are abnormally strong."

Sighing slightly, she dropped her gaze to the papers on her desk for an instant.

"Besides, even if I wanted to send higher rank ninja with you, I wouldn't be able to. Asuma, Nara, even Kakashi. Right now, most of the upper ranks are out of the village doing missions, trying to cover for the losses in our ranks sustained during the invasions. Even the jounin commander himself is out of the village."

Sitting back with a tired expression, she fixed Narumi with a long look.

"You have thirty minutes. Gather as many worthy genin as you see fit, and leave immediately."

A dangerous grin curled across Narumi's face, her elongated fangs flashing in the morning light.

"If not sooner. See ya, Baa-chan."

Narumi had already turned away and opened the door when Tsunade called out to her again.

"Narumi?"

Half turning, the younger blonde looked back towards the Hokage, half impatient, half curious. Brown eyes flickered down to where the long green crystal of the necklace she'd given the Uzumaki glittered against the black of her shirt, before flicking back up to meet the young chuunin's eyes.

"Be careful."

Narumi blinked, and then grinned widely.

"Don't worry, Baa-chan. Me and the others'll bring Sasuke back, 'ttebayo!"

Closing the door firmly behind her, she nodded to Shizune, and strode straight across to a window. Wrenching it open, she hopped up onto the window sill, and sprang out across the village, taking the fastest route to the hospital.

When she arrived, she went to the front desk, and cleared her throat, mimicking Ikuye-sensei's firm, no-nonsense tone of voice.

"I'm looking for Saburo Haruno. He has a mission."

The nurse looked uncertain, and a little prissy as she eyed the blonde incredulously.

"...really? Well, Haruno-san has an examination, so..."

Before she could finish, a door down the hall burst open, and Saburo skidded into the hall, hitae-ate in hand, shirt half on as he pushed his free arm up through the fabric. He was scowling back into the room, righting himself as his shirt settled over his torso.

"I've told you people I'm fine! I have to go-"

Narumi grinned, eyes bright as she stepped back from the entryway desk and called out sharply, flaring her chakra to catch her teammates attention.

"Saburo! Let's get going!"

Jade eyes swiveled around and fixed on her in relief, the boy bolting towards her. The two of them were out the door and gone before the iryo-nin could voice a full protest, leaving the crisp white halls of the hospital behind as they moved into town.

"We have a mission to rescue Sasuke. Baa-chan put me in charge, told me to pick out a team and be gone in half an hour."

Saburo snorted as they leapt across the roofs, tying his hitae-ate around his arm as they went.

"Of course, I'm coming with you."

Narumi nodded sharply.

"This is team seven business. Who else should go, if not us?"

Saburo hummed his agreement, glancing at her from the corner of his eye as they moved towards the well-to-do part of the village.

"Who else?"

Narumi didn't look at him as they continued on, explaining absently as she ran through the options in her head. She intended to make sure that the team she took out had the best possible chance of completing the mission and returning unharmed to the village. That meant being careful about who she took with her.

"We're going to need to track down the enemy first of all. That means we'll need trackers, people with sharp senses. My sense of smell will help, but that's not enough. We need someone with sharp eyes. So we're heading for the Hyuuga compound."

Saburo nodded as they alighted on the street that fronted said compound, the large, double gate set in the wall surrounding the compound guarded by two silent branch family members. Narumi set her shoulders and walked up to one of them.

"Excuse me, I need to speak to Nobuye Hyuuga. It's urgent."

The two men glanced at each other, and then made as if to speak. Before they could, a smaller door set in the gate opened, and Hirohito stepped out. The pale eyed boy blinked at them in surprise, stepping out tentatively.

"Narumi-chan? Saburo-kun?"

Narumi blinked. Being a genin must have been good for him. Now he only blushed when he talked to her. Whenever she'd tried to approach him in the academy, he had inevitable squeaked and run away, or lost consciousness. Shaking such thoughts from her head, she spoke swiftly to him.

"We need Nobuye for a mission. It's important."

Hirohito blinked, looking regretful as he explained the situation in a quiet voice.

"I'm sorry, but Nobuye-nee-san is already out of the village. She's running a mission with Tenma-kun."

Swearing quietly, Narumi bit down on her thumbnail, narrowing her eyes as she thought hard. Hirohito watched her curiously, taking a step closer as he questioned her softly.

"What is it, Narumi-chan?"

Shaking her head slightly, the blonde growled.

"Sasuke was abducted by Oto-nin last night. I'm supposed to put together a team to go after him, and I wanted someone with tracking capabilities...maybe Shinako...?"

A rough voice rang out from just behind her, and the scent of dog flooded her nostrils. Glancing back over her shoulder, she saw Kira, Akamaru draped easily over her shoulder as she braced her hands on her hips, a smirk with serious undertones playing over her face.

"Shinako's out on a mission with her father right now. If it's a tracker you need, I'm your girl."

Narumi eyed her. Kira was a loyal kunoichi, who'd be more than happy to disembowel anyone who looked the wrong way at her 'pack'. Her keen senses would be good to have along, and her ferocity and strength would be an asset if and when they fought the Oto-nin.

"My nose is already pretty sharp..."

Kira cocked a hip and chuffed indignantly.

"Maybe so, but you're not trained as a tracker. Besides, wouldn't you want a second opinion?"

Narumi nodded and proffered a feral grin of welcom to her old playmate.

"Sounds good."

Kira lit up with anticipation, and Hirohito spoke up in a firm, determined tone.

"I-if Kira-chan is going, I'm c-coming too."

Saburo punched the other boy lightly in the arm, obviously pleased.

"That's the spirit! We'll find Sasuke in no time!"

Narumi rolled her shoulders and checked the sun.

"Alright, we haven't got much time. Do you guys need any gear besides what you're carrying?"

Hirohito nodded once.

"If we're leaving the village, I'll need a few more supplies."

Kira nodded slightly.

"I need some extra stuff too."

Narumi gestured back towards the gate Hirohito had come through.

"Go ahead and grab what you need then. Saburo and I will go get the last member of the team. We'll meet up at the main gate of the village, no later than ten minutes from now."

So saying, she leapt up to a nearby roof, and took off again towards a large, older looking house not all that far from the Hyuuga compound. Saburo followed after her easily, frowning slightly as he pulled alongside.

"Who else then?"

Narumi brought them down in front of the door of the house she'd been aiming for, and knocked quickly.

"I'm not that good at strategy. We're gonna need someone brainy if this gets complicated."

A tall woman with long, dark brown hair slicked back from her face opened the door. She blinked down at them, cocking her head curiously.

"Can I help you?"

Narumi nodded politely.

"Is Shika here? We need her for a mission."

The woman gave them a small smile and waved a hand.

"Wait here please."

She left the door slightly cracked, so the two of them were clearly able to hear her bellowing for Shika, and the resulting crashing and banging. Saburo stared, eyes wide, and Narumi flinched in sympathy.

A few moments later, Shika tumbled out the door, pulling it firmly shut behind her, looking ruffled. Yawning, she peered curiously at the two of them.

"Narumi? What's up? What mission?"

Narumi scrubbed a hand through her bangs, sighing. She was glad Shika wasn't out on a mission. Just having the Nara around always made her feel like there was nothing to worry about, as her friend never failed to have a plan.

"Sasuke got kidnapped by Orochimaru's thugs. We're going to rescue him."

Shika's eyes shot wide open, and she stiffened slightly.

"Wait, what?"

Narumi shrugged helplessly.

"You heard me. And we're probably going to encounter enemy activity."

Shika hissed softly, and then looked over her.

"You were promoted. Team leader for this mission?"

Narumi nodded self-consciously.

"Yeah, that'd be me."

Shika cocked her head and frowned.

"You need a team of higher ranked ninja."

Narumi shook her head.

"None available."

Sighing, Shika checked the strap of her holster and fell in beside Narumi as the three of them started heading for the gate.

"Who else?"

Fiddling anxiously with the strap of her holster, she fixed her eyes on the gate as they approached it.

"The three of us, Kira, and Hirohito."

Shika furrowed her brow, thinking, and nodded tightly.

"Good. A smaller team will move faster and give less warning. Given the mission, the team is well put together."

Narumi shrugged slightly as they reached the gate, still so focused on getting out of the village and after Sasuke's captors that she was hardly paying attention to her surroundings. .

"I wanted Nobuye and Lee, but Nobuye's out of town, and Lee's probably still recovering so..."

A cheerful voice rang out from behind the three ninja, and Narumi looked back to see Rock Lee, still in his very green jumpsuit, leaning on a crutch as he accompanied Hirohito and Kira over to where the other three stood.

"I am pleased to know you thought of me, Narumi-san! However, since I am currently unable to accompany you, I will have to ask that you defeat those most un-youthful foes who have stolen away our fellow comrade!"

Narumi smiled distractedly at Lee, nodding emphatically.

"Sure thing, Lee-kun!"

Shika cleared her throat and looked expectantly to Narumi.

"What's your plan?"

Narumi frowned, looking down and crossing her arms as she thought.

"Since we're the ones chasing after the Oto-nin, they'll be able to predict exactly where we'll be coming from. That'll make it easy for them to set up an ambush, so I think the best we can do right now, is choose a good formation."

Squinting slightly as she worked through her idea in her head, she lifted her eyes to the Inuzuka watching her curiously while her Hyuuga teammate hovered at her shoulder.

"Kira, your team specializes in tracking and recon, right? That means you've been traveling all over Hi no Kuni."

Kira blinked, but then nodded confirmation.

"Yeah, that's right."

Narumi lifted one hand to rub the back of her head absently.

"Alright, that means you'll know the terrain better. I'm pretty sure I know Sasuke's scent better, but since you know the land, you'll take point. That way, you'll have a better chance of spotting any potential booby traps, and you'll notice if we end up caught in a genjutsu that warps the landscape."

Flicking her eyes over the rest of the gathered ninja, she thought a bit more and then continued.

"I'll take second position, behind Kira. My sense of smell is good enough to catch anything she misses. Also, most of the team will be behind me to pick up hand signals if we run into trouble."

Gesturing to Shika, she spoke directly to the Nara.

"You'll be third, Shika. That way you'll be able to aid both the front and back of the squad with your shadow techniques. Also, since your abilities lie in strategy and long-range combat, we want to give the enemy as few chances to engage you up close as possible. The last thing we want is to lose the strategist."

Turning to her own teammate, she continued with her explanation.

"Saburo, you take fourth. With your chakra control and that attack you used during the preliminary matches of the exams, you should be able to deal some heavy damage to anyone who attacks the front of the line. You'll be our striker."

Finally she glanced up at Hirohito, glad that she'd managed to get a Hyuuga on her team, even if it wasn't the one she'd expected.

"Hirohito-kun, you take rear guard. Your Byakugan will let you keep an eye on the squads blind spots and assure we don't get flanked."

Shika nodded carefully.

"Good plan. One thing. May I see everyone's weapons? It'll make devising a plan of action easier."

Narumi nodded, unhooking her own weapons pouch from it's place on the back of her pants waistband. Flipping the top open, she held it out to the Nara. The others grumbled and ribbed each other about it a bit, but did the same.

Once Shika was satisfied, the five of them fastened everything back down, and then faced the forest beyond the village gate. Glancing back over her shoulder at Lee, Narumi waved cheerfully.

"We'll beat up some Oto-nin for you, Lee-kun!"

With that, the five of them started down the path, never looking back.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Hello all! Review replies!

To 10-iz4, it pleases me that I was able to surprise people with the promotions! It means I'm not being too predictable. Probably anyway...(^-^).  
>To ChaosIdeals, nice to hear from you again, and sincerely hope that you found this chapter as entertaining as the last.<br>To jayley, I hope the updates continue to be worth any possible sleep deprivation (^_^'). Also, very glad to hear you enjoyed Orochimaru. I thought I was gonna kill myself trying to figure out a way to write him that wasn't out of character, and yet managed to be...not creepy. I swear, that character is possessed by the very essence of creepy (0.0)  
>To Zelga Lim Li, yes, I promise Kakashi will at no point turn into a jerk-sensei. By the way, good luck with your story. I'll be checking back on it whenever I'm on. \(^o^)  
>To firehottie, Yes, I'm fine. Your concern warms my heart though. I shall endeavor not to make you worry if I can help it. I hope you enjoyed the Papa Bear Kakashi moments in this chapter...he kinda clawed his way out of my head and ran wild in this chapter (^-^'). Oh, and since I don't really have a beta for this story, I'm aware that I miss grammar or spelling mistakes sometimes, so if you notice one, feel free to point it out, kay?<br>To Zandamh, pleased you enjoyed the update. Um...about the Jiraya thing...I shall restrain Kakashi from maiming or inflicting permanent damage...No promises on lack of bloodshed when the Yume incident comes to light. ;p  
>To Hugo0974, thanks for the review! Off to begin work on the next chapter now!<br>To x-pixilated-x, it was really great to hear from you! And I do thank you for sticking with me through the first chapters. Probably not riveting, but I had to start somewhere. I shall endeavor to start off more quickly in my next fan fiction. Also, I'm very glad to hear you like Teruyoshi so much. I'm rather fond of him myself. He'll be showing back up in the story. Extensively. Not to worry about Sasuke either. He's pretty safe from being swayed to the dark side. Mainly because the differences in the story have caused his vengeance tendencies to get tangled up with protective instincts towards his teammates. So yeah, as long as Narumi and Saburo are solidly planted in Konoha and remain loyal, so will he. Hope you liked the latest chapter!

And the explanations!

Interactions between the sannin and Kakashi are pretty simple. Remember, these are the people who were around to teach and protect Minato's generation as they grew up. Kakashi is someone they remember as a cute, stubborn genin who adored someone they couldn't help but see as incredibly young. You know how your parents will always see you as that cute little kid you used to be, at least partially? Like that, only Kakashi is more like cute little grandkid.

The situation with Saburo's family. They mean well. Really they do. They're just also more than a little arrogant and slightly pompous. Just like how the sannin can't help but see Kakashi as adorably stubborn genin, Saburo's family still sees him as bookish, weak, day-dreaming little brother. Now that's fine, except that they've decided its up to them to take over his life for him until he's 'old enough' to know what he's doing. And they've taken it to the point where it could really be considered emotional abuse. Also, they've actively tried to under cut his career, bringing the whole thing to the attention of his team. Which causes the team to put both feet down. Hard.

Sasuke reacts particularly badly to Saburo's family's antics because in his mind, Saburo is family, and they're trying to take him away from the team. Permanently. Which puts them firmly, if subconsciously, on his 'list of enemies'. Kakashi has a similar reaction though his is more caused by the fact that anyone is daring to belittle or interfere with one of his precious students.

The Ichiraku scene is pretty simple. In case it's not painfully obvious already, Saburo has a crush on Shinako, which actually probably grew strong enough for him to be aware of it when she went after Narumi as backup during the invasion. Shinako is also more aware of Saburo than any of the other boys. Sasuke is dimly aware of what's going on, but doesn't realize it's mutual. He is just amused because he thinks Saburo's got a bad, one-sided crush on a girl who doesn't realize.

Narumi does notice the mutual attraction (she's a little dense about these things, but poor Saburo is too honest to _not _broadcast it) and isn't sure how she feels about it. She's a little hurt because she's had a crush on Saburo for a long time. At the same time, it doesn't bother her as much as it should, because she's more focused on her training than on boys, so the feeling is starting to fade. The fact that it doesn't bother her, in fact bothers her. That is to say, she thinks she should care more than she does, which upsets her because she feels cold-hearted. And on top of all of this, because she's a good friend, she's happy for them both, and thinks they're very sweet together.

The boys are a little indignant about her not telling about the promotion on principle, but neither of them is actually upset about her being promoted over them. If anything, they're proud of her. Both are likely to brag on her in secret, even if they'd never say anything to her face.

The scene with Kakashi and the Haruno family...yeah, he's feeling a little vindictive. He's also quite proud of himself for throwing no punches when he's been this badly provoked. So, to satisfy his more vengeful and violent urges, he delivers the news that they are to leave his student alone and butt the hell out with very little tact or softening. And rather enjoys the horrified reaction. Best part is, he never speaks anything but the truth, and he really isn't overstepping his authority at all. Sasuke, by the way, guesses roughly what went on, and approves in a very official, Uchiha-like manner. Vengeance you know. It's his thing.

Danzo scene. Things is starting to move within the story. Not much else I can tell you at this point without ruining things. Oh yeah, the man is pretty much bat-shit-crazy. Maybe he had a sort of twisted honor in cannon, and I will try to respect that but...truthfully, the man is pretty much just loathsome to me. I mean, at least Orochimaru, Madara, and Kabuto had the decency to not pretend like they were allies with the people they were backstabbing. So yeah, not much love for Danzo here. Sorry about that.

The sound four scene. Sasuke and Saburo don't seem to have put up much of a fight, but keep in mind that at this point they're not only outnumbered, they're waaaaay out of their league. These goons are like cannon Sasuke in his handwings-and-lipstick form. Smacking down a couple of unsuspecting thirteen year olds isn't exactly a difficult task for them. Frankly the only reason Saburo survived is because they were concentrating on taking a very unwilling Sasuke alive.

That's another thing, Orochimaru had figured that by now Sasuke would be willing to turn. However, Sasuke has no intention of having anything to do with Orochimaru, unless it involves some sort of painful activity that will prove fatal for a certain snake sannin. Orochimaru suspects this possibility, so he gave the sound four orders to abduct if Sasuke didn't come quietly. So basically, we have the retrieval mission starting up, but it's more like the retrieval of Kushina than the cannon retrieval mission. Minus the romantic bit, anyway. So, Sasuke is not a traitor! Orochimaru is merely thinking that with the foothold into our young Uchiha's mind that the curse mark gives him, he'll be able to drive him insane and turn him to the dark side once he's away from the village.

Saburo's not really badly injured at all, just ticked as hell at the bureaucracy of the hospital, so Narumi naturally requisitions him for her first mission as a team leader. Most of the other ninja are out on other missions at the time because they've all been stretched pretty thin due to loss of manpower during the joint sound-sand attack, so her options for everyone else are limited.

Shika was an obvious choice, because Narumi knows her own strengths and weaknesses. Longterm plans are definitely among the weaknesses. Narumi and Shika have been friends for a long time, and Narumi trusts Shika, so obviously the Nara is coming along.

Kira comes because she overhears what's going on, and Sasuke is considered part of her 'pack' (she considers this to include her family, her team, and the rest of the rookie nine). Her skills are deemed useful on the mission, so along she goes.

Hirohito comes both because of the Byakugan, and because Kira is coming. He's attracted to more fiery natured girls, you see, and his affection for Narumi is slowly turning into deeper feelings for his tomboy teammate. Yep, romance popping up all over the place (just doesn't seem fair that the main character is the only one to get a happy ending).

I think that about covers it. As always, please to be reading and then to be reviewing! I appreciates it veddy much! Also, if you have a question, don't hesitate to ask!


	17. Retrieval

Narumi raced through the forest behind Kira, both of them intent on the scents flowing through the air around them. The blonde kunoichi forced her anxiety down, preventing it from surging through her as she took in a deep breath, trying to decipher the mysteries of the scent trail.

She could smell Sasuke, his scent sharp with adrenaline, and sweat, frustration, and anger. The scent of resistance. If she'd needed any further proof that Sasuke had not willingly deserted the village, it was all there in his scent. And smells did not lie.

The other four scents though, were largely calm and steady. There was a certain urgency in their scent, natural for ninja operating in enemy territory, but other than that, they seemed unconcerned. Narumi felt a flash of irritation, eyes narrowing as she fought to maintain the calm that was so necessary for the squad leader.

The rest of her chosen team trailed behind her in the single file formation that she'd chosen for the mission. The squad moved quickly and silently, each trusting the others to take care of their own unique task and protect the whole of the group.

Just as Narumi was about to turn to Shika and ask if she'd come up with any possible strategies for when they caught up with their quarry, Kira called out sharply in a wary tone of voice.

"Hey! The scent of the enemy is spread all over this place!"

Narumi's head shot around, and she reacted instantly, voice sharp and urgent.

"Everyone stop now!"

All five ninja dropped instantly out of the long, chakra-enhanced, leaping run that they used to cover great distances, landing side by side on a large limb of a nearby tree. Narumi lifted her had and glanced around uneasily. Kira was right, the stench of the Oto-nin was everywhere here.

Saburo stood just beyond Shika, leaning forward slightly to fix his eyes on Narumi.

"What is it, Narumi-chan?"

Shaking her head uneasily, the Uzumaki ran her eyes over the trees around them, body setting itself for battle. Even as she spoke, she strained her senses, searching for any trace of danger around them.

"I'm not sure."

Glancing over at Hirohito, she spoke quickly to the quiet boy.

"Hirohito-kun, can you use your Byakugan to check the area?"

The Hyuuga nodded once, acknowledging the order and lifting his head. He'd dropped the dojutsu when they'd settled onto the branch, but now he reactivated it. Prominent veins stood out around his eyes, the pale violet-white color of the eyes themselves lightening very slightly and taking on silvery undertones.

His eyes flickered around the surrounding area quickly. After a moment, his eyes fixed on a specific tree just ahead of them, and he pointed to a particular spot on the trunk.

"There."

Narumi followed his finger, and spotted an explosive tag, it's red and white coloring barely visible from where it was hidden behind a thick clump of glossy, dark green leaves. Shika drew in a sharp breath beside her, but said nothing. Saburo and Kira both swore explosively.

Hirohito ignored the reaction his revelation drew, and continued on, his voice soft but firm, his usual stutter nearly gone from his voice entirely.

"An explosive tag. There are five more of them, in the formation of the barrier seal."

Narumi breathed out a silent sigh of relief. Hirohito might not use the byakugan as instinctively and easily as his more talented cousin, Nobuye, but he was by no means unskilled with the classic dojutsu of his family.

Shika's voice was sharp and frustrated. And slightly worried.

"I've read about that. It's a high class ninjutsu trap that's triggered when the enemy enters the area encircled by the seals."

Kira cursed even more virulently than before, shooting an uneasy glance at Narumi and Shika.

"Isn't there anyway we can flank it?"

Hirohito shook his head, brow furrowing. This time he didn't drop the byakugan. Though he was answering Kira's question, his eyes flickered back and forth between the Inuzuka and the bright haired team leader.

"We could circle around the trap, but it is quite large. The detour would take time."

Narumi shook her head decisively, eyes intent on the one tag she could see.

"Time is the one thing we don't have. The longer we take to reach the enemy, the greater chance they'll escape entirely."

Shika sighed, dark eyes knowing as she crossed her arms across her chest.

"Well then, what do you think we should do?"

Narumi exchanged a look with Saburo, and then lifted her hands into a familiar cross shape.

"I'm going to spring the trap."

Kira's eyes bulged, and her hand locked tightly around Narumi's upper arm, long, claw-like nails digging into the orange sleeve of her jacket.

"Are you insane? You could be killed! And the enemy will know we're here on top of that!"

Narumi shook her friends hand off impatiently and shook her head.

"No, it'll be fine."

Glancing over at the rest, she saw that both Shika and Saburo understood perfectly well what she was about to do. Shika because the Nara was too smart for her own good, and Saburo because he knew Narumi very well by now, and was used to the way she worked. Satisfied, she explained the plan for Hirohito and Kira.

"I'll make five Kage Bunshin and send them in to trigger the trap. That will clear it out of our way, and the enemy should believe that at least some of us were killed in the blast. They'll expect pursuit, yes, but they were obviously already expecting that. This way, they'll think it's wounded, reduced pursuit at best."

Shika nodded once, and Kira subsided uneasily. Hirohito still looked worried, but he said nothing, merely nodding uncertainly. Saburo shook his head at her and waved an arm easily through the air.

"Well then, get on with it."

Narumi grinned, and lifted her hands again, reaching for the deep well of her chakra. Before she actually reached into the well that fed her coils, she glanced at the others.

"Fall back. It's gonna get crowded for a minute."

The others nodded, and retreated to a branch in the tree just behind this one, still close, but giving her the distance she needed for the jutsu she was about to preform. A moment later, five Kage Bunshin burst into being around her, covering the branch were her team had stood only moments before.

As Kage Bunshin, they already knew the purpose she had in mind for them. The five of them almost instantly henged into a group of random, nondescript Konoha-nin, not a one of them from the large clans. After all, if the seals had any element that allowed the enemy to know who had sprung the trap, there was no reason to give them any accurate information about their pursuers.

Once the henge were safely in place, one of them stepped forward in the guise of a middle aged man with graying hair and a large, puckered scar that spread across a good portion of his face.

"We're off boss."

Narumi nodded to the gruff-sounding man, and the five figures turned and raced through the trees. As they did, she and her team fell back a few more branches, in case there was any kind of blast wave from the springing of the trap.

A moment later, there was as explosion, still fairly small by ninja standards, but enough to wipe out the five man group that had entered the trap field. Narumi felt a heady rush of information swirling into her brain, and realized that all five bunshin had been dispersed in the explosion and its aftermath.

Shaking her head slightly, she waited a moment for the area to settle, and then nodded to her team.

"Alright, let's go."

Wordlessly, they all sprang forward, falling into formation again as they went. Narumi called out a last order as they moved forward through what had previously been a trapped area.

"Everyone keep your eyes out for traps. We can't assume this was the only one."

The others nodded, and the five Konoha-nin moved swiftly forward through the forest, not hindered even by the damage the trees had taken in the blast of the sprung trap. If the Oto-nin thought they were in for a clean getaway because they'd thrown up a few traps, they were sadly mistaken.

* * *

><p>Danzo nodded gravely to Homura and Koharu as they sat across from him, his voice the perfect blend of deference, respect, and seriousness as he thanked them for seeing him. It was imperative that he keep the elders feeling as if he was the only ally they had who truly understood what had to be done for the good of the village.<p>

It was an image he'd been cultivating with them since the Kyuubi attack. When they'd discovered the existence of the jinchuriki, he'd seen the revulsion in their eyes as they gazed on the child. In that moment, he'd known they'd be useful to him, and begun to cultivate them so that when the time came, they would be his loyal supporters.

And he'd done well. They'd stood with him whenever the ultimate good of the village was concerned. When the Uchiha had threatened to rise up, they'd agreed with him that the clan must be put to death for their treason, down to the smallest child.

But while the three of them were usually able to exert a certain amount of pressure on Hiruzen, when their old teammate drew the line, the other two refused to press further. It had been a source of frustration that Danzo had been unable to overcome while the Sandaime lived, yet another reason that he'd had to be disposed of.

Many years ago, when the time came for the jinchuriki to be sent to the academy, Danzo and the two elders had come before the Hokage, insisting that the girl be put into proper training so that she could fulfill her purpose as the weapon of the village. After all, hadn't the Kyuubi attack proven that treating Kushina as a normal Kunoichi had come to no good?

But here, the Hokage had put his foot down and flatly refused any and all demands from the three council members. Danzo had been frustrated by the old mans senile attachment to the quainter notions of camaraderie that existed within the village. Well enough for the lower ranks and children, but the Hokage should be beyond such foolishness!

However, even that could now be turned to his advantage. After all, Koharu and Homura had chafed at the decision, and now the girl was within his reach once more. All he had to do was play his hand right, and the powers of the Kyuubi would be his to wield for the sake of the village.

Calming himself, he sipped at the steaming cup of green tea in his hands, letting the bitter heat wash over his tongue. Iron control kept his body language from broadcasting anything to alarm or excite the elders unduly. Now, to the task of laying the groundwork.

"I wished to speak to you both about a matter that I believe to be of grave importance of the village."

Homura nodded seriously, and Koharu blew out a gusty sigh, her wrinkled face contorting as she complained crossly.

"Well, you would be the only one! That impudent whelp Tsunade doesn't listen to half of what we tell her! Dashing about making decisions as if she knows best for the village when she hasn't set foot inside the walls in years!"

Danzo nodded, his voice carrying a careful, barely-there hint of sympathy. Here was another way to coax them along. Their resentment of Tsunade and her unwillingness to pander to their own sense of self-importance would serve him well.

"Tsunade-hime is perhaps...impetuous...in her actions."

Koharu snorted rudely, and displeased agreement flickered in Homura's eyes.

"That's putting it mildly."

Sighing heavily, Homura took a deep swallow of his own tea, and then looked directly at Danzo.

"All true, but I doubt that you wished to speak with us about Tsunade's impertinence."

Danzo inclined his head, carefully schooling himself once more in order not to show how he bristled at the almost-command, allowing himself a moment of smug pride in the iron control that allowed no hint of his true feelings or intentions to reach the old fools before him. Truly, while he and Hiruzen rarely agreed, he'd respected his old friend far more than these two. Even when he was going soft, he still had the spine to act on his beliefs openly.

"I thought to bring to your attention a matter that has caused me growing concern. You are aware, I presume, of the actions of the group known as Akatsuki?"

Homura nodded, eyes glinting, and Koharu spoke scornfully.

"Indeed. Not only did they attack the village, they attempted to steal away our jinchuriki."

Danzo hummed his assent and dropped his gaze to the steaming surface of his tea, satisfied that their information was enough that they grasped the basics of what he wished them to know, and incomplete enough that any details that could connect him to the organization in question would slip by them. Since Hiruzen died, these two where the only ones old enough to recognize the trademark signs of his fieldwork with operatives.

"Yes. But there is more. I believe that the main purpose of this organization is to obtain the jinchuriki and harness its powers for use against the village."

With a sense of satisfaction, he watched the shock and indignation bloom across their features, along with the tiny spark of fear that began in their eyes. Good. If he were to get his hands on the jinchuriki, he must keep these two thinking of it as the weapon it was, and afraid that enemies of the village would wrench that weapon from their grasp.

"Also, I have found that Orochimaru has expressed a certain amount of...interest...in the jinchuriki."

Koharu started to her feet, hissing in shock and anger.

"What? But didn't that wench Tsunade send the jinchuriki after Orochimaru's men to retrieve the Uchiha?"

Danzo made sure his expression was properly regretful and worry laced as he replied.

"I'm afraid so."

He though Koharu might keel over from outrage right there. As she spluttered, Homura spoke up in a sharp, demanding tone.

"That places the village doubly at risk! If Orochimaru gets his hands on both the Uchiha _and_ the jinchuriki-!"

Danzo nodded again, his voice soothing and filled with unspoken promises.

"This is why I wished to speak to you again on the matter of the jinchuriki. Our enemies obviously still covet its power, and Tsunade doesn't know what she's handling. I had thought it might be best to arrange things so that the jinchuriki was properly seen to, but..."

Here he trailed off, and leaned back, staring down into his tea with a carefully constructed look that combined despair, sorrow, worry, and old loyalty.

"...Hiruzen...he was so certain that she should be left among other ninja her own age. I would not wish to go against the wishes of my dear friend so soon after his death."

Both the elders shoulders dropped slightly, and they seemed as if they were feeling again the loss of their old teammate. But they shook it off quickly. They had, after all, had a long time to convince themselves that the Sandaime was a fool who was too kind for own good, and they sensed opportunity to sweet to miss in his passing.

Koharu brightened suddenly.

"You're right, Danzo. It would be unseemly to disrespect Sarutobi in such a way. But we can do both. Respect him AND deal properly with the Kyuubi issue."

Danzo looked up, artfully feigning surprise and curiosity. Koharu smirked triumphantly, leaning forward slightly as she spoke.

"What about ROOT? They answer to you, so you could see to it that the jinchuriki was handled properly. And I'm sure that you have a few younger ninja in your service?"

Danzo nodded slowly, as if he'd never even considered such a thing before. Inwardly, he felt triumph bloom. He was not yet at his goal, but this was an important step. It was vital that the other two believe that it was entirely their idea to place the jinchuriki and all its power in his hands.

"That's true. I do have a few young ninja that are being trained in ROOT..."

Homura nodded decisively, getting to his feet in a regal motion.

"And no one who might complain can have any objection to the jinchuriki being recruited into an elite force of the village. Very well then, that's what we'll do."

Danzo stood as well, his body language that of an equal and a friend as he bid the other two farewell.

"I shall do what must be done for the good of the village. Thank you both."

Koharu nodded, sweeping an arm grandly through the air.

"We will speak with you again at a later time."

Danzo inclined his head as the other two swept out the door. When he was alone in the room save for the three cups on the table and the ROOT shinobi crouched in the shadows of the room, he allowed himself a tiny quirk of the corner of his mouth. Yes, everything was going as planned.

* * *

><p>Narumi and her friends walked carefully along the forest floor in a loose group. Half an hour after they'd made it past the trap field, they'd been forced to abandon the forest canopy. Knowing that Konoha-nin were most at home among the upper levels of the forest, the Oto-nin had trapped that the most heavily, obviously hoping to catch them out.<p>

As the five of them moved cautiously forward, still following the scent trail that both Kira and Narumi had verified, the Inuzuka grumbled irately, one hand braced on her hip. She'd thrown back her hood, and Akamaru had tucked himself into the vacant sack of cloth, nuzzling the back of her head comfortingly.

"What the hell? I don't like this! Coming up against this many traps..."

Shika shrugged slightly, and though her drawl was as relaxed as it ever was on missions, her fingers twitched slightly.

"Well, at least the enemy doesn't seem to have much time to set the things up. I'm seeing a lot of rushed work. That could mean that they're not moving as fast as they'd like."

Near the back of the group, Hirohito nodded, voice quiet but reassuring.

"Uchiha-san was taken against his will, and he is not the kind of shinobi to merely allow himself to be dragged away. He'll fight them, and that will slow them down."

Narumi shook her head slightly, brow furrowed tightly as she glanced at Saburo, who had moved up to walk beside her.

"No. I don't think he can fight them anymore."

Everyone but Kira stared at her questioningly, and she shrugged.

"I'm not saying Sasuke wouldn't fight them as hard as he could. But Kira will tell you, peoples scents can tell you all sorts of things. At first, Sasuke's scent was packed with adrenaline, among other things. Basic indicators that he was upset, and exerting himself. Fighting back."

The others nodded cautiously, and Kira nodded, dropping back between Shika and Hirohito.

"She's right. That's how I read the trail. But then we hit that spot a ways out from the village, just before the trap field."

Narumi took the tale back up, locking glances with Saburo briefly before turning her attention back to the surrounding greenery.

"When we got there, the scent was...odd. Sasuke's scent had fear in it, and the Oto-nin smelled like they'd been putting some effort out themselves. Also, I thought I smelled a trace of poison. But it was too faint to be sure. After that, Sasuke's scent has been subdued, barely there. Almost muffled."

Kira nodded. Shika tensed, eyes narrowing uncertainly.

"That's...unnerving."

Saburo grunted, and Narumi grimaced, quickening her stride slightly. As she moved away from Saburo, a glint of sunlight caught her eye, and she called absentmindedly over her shoulder.

"Tripwire."

As she started to step over it, Shika called out sharply, voice alarmed.

"Narumi, wait!"

The blonde blinked and tried to pull back, but it was too late. She'd already begun to move, and her own weight and momentum wouldn't allow her to draw back soon enough. Panicked, she hoped whatever blunder she'd just made wouldn't get her comrades killed as well.

Before she could even brace herself for whatever was about to happen, her body suddenly jerked out of her control. Her extended leg jerked up into the air, the other foot rising up off the ground until she was balanced on the ball of her foot. Her back arched, torso leaning back until she was practically horizontal to the ground, and one arm thrust back, fingers curling tightly as if she were grasping at something.

Frozen, she found herself unable to move. Narumi knew that the position should have sent her crashing forward atop the tripwire, and whatever danger Shika had spotted, but miraculously, she remained as she was.

Straining her eyes, she peered from the corner of her vision, and saw that behind her, Shika had used Kagemane to seize her. The Nara was in the same position, except that her arm shot back past Kira's head to clamp down on the front of Hirohito's coat.

The Hyuuga had stumbled forward to crash into Kira's back, resulting in the oddly overextended position in which Shika held her. The Inuzuka had braced her feet, to hold the weight, and now a very red Hirohito had braced his hands on her shoulders, stammering apologies as he backed up.

Akamaru had thankfully managed to escape danger by wiggling forward over Kira's shoulder to drop into her arms, and the Inuzuka was muttering about crazy Nara clan members. Shika ignored her, allowing Hirohito to scramble back and pull her with him.

Narumi sighed as her body began to draw back. In an instant, one of Saburo's arms wrapped around her shoulders, while the other seized her waist. As the rosette lifted her backwards, Shika released both the jutsu and the stuttering Hyuuga heir behind her.

Once everyone was out of danger, the dark haired girl approached and hunkered down in front of the tripwire.

"Look at this. One wire is intentionally positioned to reflect the sunlight and catch attention, so that the second camouflaged wire catches you. A double trap."

Saburo had let go of Narumi, but he hovered over her shoulder, eyes narrowed as he glared at the wires.

"That's really well made for a rush job."

Shika nodded.

"But that only means that they're resting. Either they're wounded, or it's an ambush."

Narumi stepped to the side and looked back at the still faintly pink Hirohito. The Hyuuga nodded as she gestured to him, and called out his Byakugan, holding very still for a moment, eyes distant and intense.

When he refocused on Narumi and the others, he was tense and uncertain.

"I found them. They're not far, and they're resting. It looks like they ran into a fight."

Kira lifted her head, scenting, and then nodded as the wind shifted.

"Now that you mention it, I can smell blood. Nothing too strong, but enough for a minor fight. Still, too much for just capturing Sasuke and keeping him in line."

Hirohito nodded, and then spoke again, voice soft.

"There's something else as well. I couldn't see Sasuke, but they had a...coffin with them. Also, there's another presence heading towards the Oto-nin, from the direction of the border. Reinforcements perhaps."

Narumi clenched her fists and then looked over the others. If they didn't get this done quickly, things were going to get a whole lot harder on them real fast.

"Hirohito, can you take another look? We need to know where Sasuke is before we move."

The Hyuuga nodded, and once again looked beyond them all, violet-white eyes almost seeming to pulse for a moment. When he looked back to Narumi, his face was even paler than normal, and he looked horrified. When he spoke, his voice was slightly sickened.

"Sasuke...he's inside the coffin."

Narumi and Saburo both stiffened, and the blonde took a step forward, voice alarmed and urgent.

"Is he dead?"

Hirohito shook his head slowly.

"I don't think so. It's difficult to say. There's some sort of barrier surrounding the coffin, making it difficult to see through."

Shika spoke up, though her voice was unnerved, and her eyes wide. A bead of sweat rolled slowly down her face as she abandoned her usual drawl for clipped, uncertain words.

"Considering how badly Orochimaru wanted Sasuke to serve him, I doubt that they would kill him so quickly."

Hirohito had continued to watch the enemy while the rest of them spoke, and he suddenly called out urgently.

"The other Oto-nin has joined them."

Narumi hissed and frowned tightly.

"We have no more time for this. Let's go."

The five of them returned to the canopy, racing towards the enemy as quickly as they could while still evading the traps scattered throughout the trees. Eyes narrowed, Narumi called sharply back to Hirohito without looking at him.

"How far out are we?"

The Hyuuga's voice was strained and worried.

"Just over half an hour!"

The Uzumaki cursed and tried to push herself harder. Kira called out to her as the others increased their pace to match the blonde.

"Calm down! We'll get there in time."

Narumi shook her head tersely.

"If they cross the territorial border, we won't be able to pursue further. If we did, we could cause a war! We have to get to Sasuke before that!"

After that they traveled in a grim silence, dodging traps and springing through the canopy as fast as they dared. They were twenty minutes out when Hirohito groaned, his voice frustrated.

"Narumi-chan! They've split up!"

Glancing back in alarm, she exchanged a look with Saburo and then questioned the Hyuuga quickly.

"How big are the groups, and which has Sasuke."

The Hyuuga shook his head slightly.

"The original four are going one way, and the shinobi who met up with them earlier is headed another. But...I can't tell which has Sasuke. Both of them are carrying coffins sealed with barriers."

Narumi swore viciously, mind spinning. Shika hissed, but said nothing. When they finally reached the clearing where Hirohito said they'd rested, Narumi called a halt. Perching in the branches, she spoke very brusquely to the Hyuuga.

"Check the clearing."

It took a matter of seconds before Hirohito waved them forward with a nod.

"It's clear."

Landing in the center of the clearing, Narumi looked around and took a deep breath in. Kira was doing the same behind her, and everyone else had fallen into formation, keeping a wary eye on the surrounding foliage in case of a hidden ambush or trap that the byakugan might have missed. Unlikely, but possible.

After sorting through the scents of the clearing and pacing after the trails, Narumi swore viciously.

"Kuso!"

Kira growled agreement, looking just as agitated. The others watched them silently until Shika spoke, eyes intent.

"What is it?"

Narumi hissed out a breath and then spoke in a dangerously quiet voice.

"Sasuke's scent is with both trails. They could have taken his shirt or something with one group to achieve it, but either way, I can't tell just from the scent which he's with without following the trail for a long while. And it's even harder since the scent is being muffled."

Shika sighed, leaning her head back.

"Then we'll have to split up."

Narumi nodded grimly. Hirohito looked alarmed.

"I-isn't that dangerous? There aren't that many of us..."

Narumi sighed, rubbing the back of her head in agitation.

"I know. But we can't take the chance of losing Sasuke."

Squaring her shoulders, Narumi looked over the others, thinking hard.

"Shika, you take Hirohito and Kira after the original group. They're the most likely to have Sasuke. Saburo and I will go after the new guy."

Kira frowned agitatedly.

"If the main group is the most likely to have Sasuke, why don't we all go after them? Or why don't you at least send someone else with Saburo?"

Narumi shook her head decisively, meeting Shika's gaze in a silent question. The other girl gave her a slow nod, indicating she thought this was the best plan for the circumstances. Some of the weight lifted from Narumi's shoulders as she explained her reasoning to Kira.

"We need one of the trackers in each group, that means me or you Kira. You work best with Hirohito, and I work best with Saburo, which makes it logical for one pair of us to go after the main group, and the other to follow the new guy. Shika will be needed by whichever group is taking care of the larger group. Her strategies will be invaluable."

Here she hesitated, and then gritted her teeth before biting out the final deciding factor in the way she'd split the team.

"And also, if Sasuke _is_ with the main group, that makes the loner suspicious. If Orochimaru were just sending someone in to help confuse the trail, it would make more sense to send another group of four in, the same way he did the first time. If the guy on his own doesn't have Sasuke, he's almost certainly here at least partly for another reason. That means it may be vital for us to discover the reason he's here, and as the only chuunin present, that duty logically falls to me."

Kira didn't look particularly happy, but she reluctantly nodded her acquiescence. Taking a deep breath, Narumi turned to Shika.

"You're squad leader. If you retrieve Sasuke, flare your chakra and then make a run for the village. Saburo and I will do the same."

Shika nodded once, shoulders drawing back, face calming as she met Narumi's eyes. The blonde did her best to give her a cheerful grin.

"Be safe."

The other three nodded, and Hirohito stuttered a reply.

"Y-you t-too, Narumi-chan."

Kira growled and punched her shoulder lightly.

"See ya back at the village, hothead!"

Then the three of them sprang away, Kira in the lead as they chased after the original groups scent trail. Narumi turned to Saburo with a fierce grin.

"Let's go!"

Saburo nodded, and the two of them took off in a different direction. Narumi took a deep breath, and sprang through the trees. Saburo drew even with her, eyes just barely glancing at her as they traveled.

"So? Is Sasuke with this guy?"

Narumi shrugged, frustrated by her own lack of knowledge.

"There's a fifty-fifty shot. But that barrier must be messing with the scent, because I really can't tell."

Saburo tensed slightly, but he didn't say anything else as the two of them raced onward.

* * *

><p>Sasuke fought his way slowly back towards consciousness. His entire body was paralyzed by agony, pain searing along his nerves. It felt as if he were alternating between being burned alive and frozen solid, and one side of his body felt very strange. Darkness wrapped him utterly, and he had the sense that he was in a suffocatingly small space, the air still and thick.<p>

Unable to move and barely awake, Sasuke peered blearily at the blackness surrounding him, trying to pinpoint the reason for the surging fear and unease that raced through his mind, filling it almost past the point of conscious thought.

Then he remembered. He remembered it all. Waking up over the shoulder of one of the four Oto-nin who'd come to take him on Orochimaru's orders. Being dragged along at the end of a rope as he stumbled forward, taking every opportunity to strike out against the strange captors who insisted on referring to him as 'Sasuke-sama'.

He remembered coming to a halt in a clearing. Being told that he'd have to die once, whatever that meant. Seeing the coffin and being chilled with fear of the thing. Being held down and force fed a pill, and then being enveloped, inside and out, in flames as cold as ice that seemed intent on tearing his body apart from the inside out. The last thing he could remember was being picked up and stuffed into the coffin.

And now he was awake. His mind sluggishly tried to work through the fear and pain, and he wondered if he was dead. If this was how he would spend the rest of eternity, crammed into a small darkness. Doing his best to shake off the terror that rose from that thought, he blinked and concentrated.

He wasn't dead. If he were dead, he wouldn't be able to feel the rough wood pressing against his body, or the rough, jostling motion. From the frequency and violence of the jarring, he'd guess that he was being carried somewhere. Dragging in a ragged breath, he shook his head slightly and forced himself further towards alertness.

The village would have realized he was missing by now, Saburo would have seen to that. If the rosette was still alive. Sasuke swallowed hard against the thought. No, he couldn't think like that. Saburo would have survived. He'd have alerted the village, and they'd send someone after him. He just had to hold out until they arrived.

Until then, however, he'd have to rely on himself. And that meant using what strength he had to the fullest advantage, and doing his best to get away on his own. His hands were still bound behind his back, and he suspected that they'd hurt terribly if he weren't already in so much pain.

The first step then, would have to be freeing his hands. He'd worry about the rest after that. Leaning forward and stretching his arms as far as he could, he wriggled his fingers into his weapons pouch, and hooked a shuriken. He'd prefer a kunai, but he couldn't reach his holster like this, so the shuriken would have to do.

Gripping it by the center hole, he carefully began sawing through the rope binding his wrists with the razor edged blade. As he worked, he tentatively tried to extend his chakra senses. He didn't even get a sense of his captors before he hit a chakra barrier as smooth and hard as polished marble.

Hissing quietly, he concentrated on cutting himself free. After that, he would take some time to rest and recover. When they opened the...barrel...he would be ready. And if he were lucky, by then whoever was hunting after them would have found him.

* * *

><p>Narumi's eyes widened slightly, and she came to a halt, holding up a hand to signal the stop to Saburo. Her teammate dropped lightly to the branch beside her, eyes inquisitive and wary.<p>

"What is it, Narumi-chan?"

Resisting the urge to snarl, she shook her head distractedly.

"The trail splits again. I'm not sure which way he actually went, and we're close enough to the border that we can't afford to just pick one at random and risk it being the wrong one."

Saburo looked uneasy, but he knew as well as she did what this meant. They'd have to split up again. The Oto-nin were doing everything they could to deplete the forces of any pursuit forces so they could get away with Sasuke in tow.

The two teammates exchanged a long look. Then Saburo nodded hard.

"Alright. Tell me which way one of the trails goes. If I can pick up a chakra trace, my sensing abilities should be good enough to follow it."

Narumi bit her lip, wanting to protest and knowing that if the guy they were following had Sasuke that this was the only way they had a real chance of getting him back. She drew in a shuddering breath and nodded, pointing.

"That way. Northeast, toward Yu no Kuni."

Saburo set himself to spring away, and then gave her a long hard look.

"Narumi-chan, if you get into trouble, flare your chakra as bright as you can manage. Sasuke wouldn't want you to get killed trying to save him."

Narumi silently nodded. She wouldn't promise to call Saburo if she were in serious trouble. That would only get him killed. But if she kept quiet and nodded her agreement to his assessment of Sasuke's wishes, he would assume she would call, and leave without trying to force the issue.

Sure enough, Saburo sprang through the trees almost at once. When she was sure he was far enough away not to be suspicious, she began racing almost recklessly towards the border with Oto no Kuni. Inhaling deeply, she assured herself of her quarries trail, and increased her speed. She was nearly atop her quarry.

When she finally caught up, she was not a moment too soon. The Oto-nin was just entering the valley of the end when she reached him, the large coffin ominous and pulsing with a strange power. He had nearly made it across the border. She didn't intend to let that happen.

"Hey!"

The Oto-nin ground to a stop, and turned to face her, setting the coffin down beside him, one hand draped lightly on its lid. He and Narumi locked gazes, staring at each other as she landed lightly across the river from him.

The Oto-nin had dull gray hair that hung limply to his shoulders, flat eyes of a pale, sickly green, and bone white skin. Vivid red markings lined his lower lid, and a pair of dots the same shade rested above his brows. A thick purple rope was wrapped around his waist, and the neckline of his long-sleeved white tunic was low enough to expose the black curse mark on his chest.

Something about him put her hackles up, and Narumi felt her lips curling back to reveal her sharper than normal canines. A touch of a growl entered her voice, and she dropped into a predatory crouch, her eyes glinting with warning.

"I'll be taking Sasuke back now, 'ttebayo!"

The man narrowed his eyes, and tucked his chin, the movement oddly menacing.

"I can't allow that. This is is an important vessel for Orochimaru-sama's dream."

Narumi's growl deepened, and she tensed.

"Sasuke is NOT a 'vessel' and Orochimaru can't have him!"

With that, she reached for the deep well of her chakra, preparing for battle. Her sense of it brightened, taking on form in her mind until she could clearly see and feel it. The pool of blue flames, a thousand shades of turquoise, cerulean, azure, and sapphire dancing together, twining around each other and surging through her body.

As power and anger both moved through her, she felt changes begin to come over her body. Her canines lengthened to true fangs, her whisker markings thickened, and the world jumped into brilliant sharpness, the cooler colors such as the blue of sky and water washing out, while warm colors like the red markings of her enemy grew more intense.

The Oto-nin frowned at her, and stepped slightly forward. His eyes were slightly puzzled, though he showed no real change of expression.

"You..."

Ignoring him, Narumi snarled.

"What does Orochimaru want with Sasuke anyway?"

The man regarded her quietly. Then he spoke, and his voice took on a noticeable overtone of pride.

"Orochimaru-sama has already completed the jutsu of immortality. The jutsu requires him to replace his body with a new one before his current body succumbs to the strain and rejects him."

Slender golden brows plunged steeply downward, as she lifted her hands into the seal for Kage Bunshin.

"I won't let you!"

With a massive explosion, more than a hundred bunshin appeared surrounding both Oto-nin and coffin on both sides of the river, replicating the ferociously angry kunoichi many times over and adding a rumbling, many-throated roar that magnified the words.

The Oto-nin looked around himself, expression never even shifting as his dull eyes flickered across the figures of his enemy.

"Oh. Interesting."

Slowly, he lifted his hands, the long sleeves sliding back over his wrists to reveal them, along with the long, sharpened spears of bleached-white...bone? Yes bone. Narumi swallowed hard.

"Come."

Intent on her prey, Narumi and her bunshin all surged forward across the rock, leaping the river towards the grey haired man. The Oto-nin stepped forward, crossing both arms in front of him, palms outward.

"Behold! THe dance of the willows!"

Twirling and striking, the man slashed, tore, and impaled his way through the clones. Even in her current state, she could see that his movements had a strange similarity to her own, though his movements were more swooping lines than spherical motions.

As he moved through the ranks, sharp, jagged pieces of bone sprouted from his knees, shoulders, and elbows like strange growths, the better to cut through the vulnerable bodies of the bunshin.

One bunshin dived for him, twisting around a blow to grab a growth. Throwing her weight against it, she tried to snap the thing off, but it didn't so much as bend. In the instant in which she was vulnerable, the Oto-nin calmly drove his palm into her stomach, the bone spear driving through her gut and dispersing the body.

Narumi and the bunshin receded, not attacking for the moment as the Oto-nin crouched in the clearing atop the coffin, regarding them as cooly as ever. As the blonde tried to formulate a strategy, the Oto-nin hopped down to stand in front of the coffin, bony growths retracting, leaving behind smooth skin and ragged holes in his clothing.

Reaching up, the Oto-nin unzipped the upper half of his tunic slightly, and slipped it from one shoulder. As he did, the skin of his shoulder began to bulge and shift. It continued to stretch until the thick layer of skin split and peeled away and back, revealing the thick, ropy red of muscles.

Those two bulged and shifted, until some of the fibers snapped with a terrible sound that had Narumi wincing. A thick white knob of bone protruded through the torn muscle fibers and split skin, sliding up into the air. The Oto-nin reached for it calmly, as if he felt no pain at all, wrapping his hand around the shaft of the bone just below the knob.

WIth that same, calm precision, he pulled the thing slowly upwards with a sick squelching sound. Narumi gagged, trying not to wretch as she realized that she was watching him as he pulled out his own left humerus. With a final flick, he flipped the end of the bone out of his shoulder to point it at her.

The end of it had added an unnatural length that sported the same broken, lethally sharp tip. It was almost like a sword made from bone. As he completed the motion, his arm dangled limply for a moment, sagging against his body. Then it slowly stiffened and took on it's proper shape as the muscles of his shoulder wove back together, and the thick sheet of his skin sealed over as if it had never been torn asunder.

Without remarking on his own horrific, impossible feat, the Oto-nin stared at her.

"Soon. Soon the new vessel will emerge to become a true servant of Orochimaru-sama, and you will be dead. My name is Kimimaro, and I shall be the one to take your life, woman of Konoha."

Uneasy, she growled at him, and slipped two fingers into her weapons pouch. The tips of her claws clinked softly against the metal of her weapons, ringing slightly as she pressed her fingers against the metal surface of her chosen weapon.

Seizing a couple of shuriken, she whipped her arm forward, launching the two throwing stars towards Kimimaro with vicious accuracy. With a single quick movement of his bone-sword, he deflected both, sending them spinning into the river.

Kimimaro regarded her flatly, his face still as unchanging as the rock around them.

"These are no ordinary bones. They are compressed to maximum density, and are as solid as steel."

Narrowing her eyes, Narumi stepped forward from the protection of her bunshin, lifting her chin and snarling defiantly.

"So what? I'll break those bones of yours to pieces!"

Moving serenely forward, Kimimaro reversed his sword in his hand, and she could have called his voice serene if not for the dead quality that saturated it.

"Fool. behold the Dance of the Camellia."

With that, he began to move. Scything forward into the ranks of her bunshin, he moved with a stately grace as precise and steady as if he were practicing forms rather than engaging in actual battle. Determinedly, Narumi and her bunshin surged into battle, doing their best to get around the bone sword to strike at the enemy.

Working in concert, the bunshin managed to draw the Oto-nin away from the coffin containing Sasuke. Slowly the thinning ranks forced him back further and further up the valley towards the great statue of Uchiha Madara.

While her bunshin kept the enemy occupied, Narumi maneuvered around to the coffin containing Sasuke and set grimly to work. Once, in the academy, she'd snuck into the teachers lounge to pull a prank, and found a book there. She hadn't gotten a good look at it, but it was a book of seals. One of which, had been a barrier seal.

Narumi's apartment had been broken into and vandalized earlier that week, and thinking it would be handy, she'd memorized the swirling characters and rings of the seal. Of course, she hadn't had the chakra control or reserves to actual use the knowledge for ages.

But now she did. And as quickly as possible, she whirled around the coffin, sketching as hastily as she dared in the dirt, funneling her chakra into the strokes. She didn't normally have patience for this kind of work, but she was able to draw up her own exploding tags, so it wasn't too difficult. She was nearly distracted when she thought she heard thudding sounds from within the coffin, but with an effort of will, she threw herself into the task.

Just as Kimimaro dispersed the last handful of bunshin, she completed the seal, a bright bubble of chakra forming around the coffin and sealing everything out. No one, not even Narumi, would be able to get in now. Out yes, in no.

Satisfied that she'd done all she could to assure that Sasuke wasn't stolen away during the battle, she turned to face the dull voiced ninja behind her. He was staring at her coolly.

"And then there was one."

She allowed herself a feral grin, baring her fangs at him triumphantly. His eyes shifted from her to the faintly glowing blue curve of the barrier, and then back to her.

"I see. The barrier draws its power from you, I presume? All the more reason to kill you quickly."

Swallowing, Narumi set herself for battle, making sure to keep her muscles and joints loose as Ero-sennin had taught her. Quickly, she flicked over the experiences of her clones, searching for information she could exploit against him. What she found made her stomach tighten.

'_Damn, this guy's really good. Even with all those bunshin, not a single blow was landed! I haven't touched him!'_

Glaring at him, she surged forward, twisting around his sword, and pulling hand back, fingers crooked, claws extended as she swiped viciously at his face.

"Hah! As if! We're gonna take Sasuke home to Konoha, 'ttebayo!"

As she struck downwards, Kimimaro swayed backwards and twisted, whirling around her easily. She landed awkwardly, the momentum of her strike forcing her to overextend and stumble. Kimimaro darted around in front of her, sword lifted.

"Futile."

As his sword lashed up diagonally across her torso, Narumi threw up her arms, palms inward, so that the blow skidded across the outside of her forearms. As the bone blade slid up off her arms, it sliced through the shoulder and neck of her jacket, causing the weighty item of clothing to slide and sag until it nearly fell from her body.

Gritting her teeth against the pain of the blow, Narumi thanked Kami for the protection of adrenaline as she felt the slick hotness of blood sheeting down her arms from the slice across her forearms. Before she could move away, Kimimaro's foot slammed painfully into stomach, sending her flying back through the air and across the river.

Kimimaro was a great deal stronger and larger than she was, and as her slender body arched towards the statue of the shodaime, the rushing wind tore her abused orange jacket completely off her body. She didn't see what happened to it. Shutting her eyes tightly, she braced herself against the inevitable impact.

But when she hit, it wasn't cold stone at her back. A gust of wind caught her, spinning her so that she was flying sideways, and she struck a hard warmth. Arms curled protectively around her shoulders and under her knees, and she felt herself being carried through the air.

When the movement stilled, she blinked her eyes open, staring up at her rescuer in surprise. She'd half-expected Saburo to have come to her aid, despite the fact that she hadn't sent him any distress signal. But he boy who held her was definitely not Saburo.

Kimimaro frowned at him, voice distant.

"Who are you?"

Deep green eyes sparked and a grin nearly as feral as her own curled across a tanned face. When the boy spoke, his voice was a confident drawl, and his chin tipped proudly up.

"An ally of the leaf. Teruyoshi of Sunagakure."

* * *

><p>Teruyoshi dropped his eyes from the eerie Oto-nin across from him, and looked at the kunoichi in his arms. What he saw made him furrow his brows in concern. Blood glistened on her arms and the front of her shirt, though the source seemed to be a relatively shallow gash across her forearms that had left the muscles in working order.<p>

What really surprised him were the changes to her physical appearance. Elegantly curved claws tipped slender fingers instead of nails, and shining fangs had taken the place of human canines. The fine markings on her cheeks had thickened and darkened, lending her face a certain wild fierceness, and her bright blue eyes had turned a brilliant crimson with slit pupils.

He'd known that she was like Gaara, but somehow he hadn't connected her with the violent and frightening transformations his little brother suffered from. Yet despite her more fearsome appearance, she didn't truly frighten him anymore now than she had before. So he ignored the enemy before them, shoved down his surprise at his own reaction, and spoke to her in a light, teasing tone.

"Hey, Beautiful. Did you know your eyes are red?"

The blonde stiffened slightly, and glared ferociously up at him. Teruyoshi chuckled and shook his head slightly, tone placating.

"Ah, don't get mad at me! It's a good look on you, honest!"

He pretended not to notice the look of blank surprise and confusion that the kunoichi gave him. Shaking his head thoughtfully, he cast his eyes skyward, purposefully making his voice playfully serious.

"Well, to be honest, red eyes look really creepy on that teammate of yours. But it really suits you."

Carefully, he sat her on her feet and turned back towards the opposite side of the river. Eyes flicking back and forth between the Oto-nin and the coffin surrounded by a wall of chakra. Furrowing his brow slightly, he glanced at the kunoichi standing beside him.

"I heard that broody got kidnapped, and that you were supposed to take a team after him...?"

Narumi nodded, jaw tight as she stared hard at the enemy. Jerking her chin towards the coffin, she spoke quietly, voice worried.

"I'm pretty sure Sasuke's in there. I don't know what they've done to him, but he's not dead."

Teruyoshi whistled, eyebrows shooting up. Unease roiled in his stomach, and he shot her a questioning glance.

"A coffin? Man, these Oto guys are really sick, huh?"

The Konoha-nin narrowed her eyes grimly, and shrugged one shoulder.

"Their trail split twice, and if we were going to get to them before they crossed the border my team had to split up as well."

Seeing the worry flickering across her face, Teruyoshi threw her a proud smirk.

"Don't worry about your comrades. I think they'll be fine."

And they should be. After all, both his little brothers had gone after the larger group, and he hadn't sensed any trouble in the direction of the other chakra signature nearby.

"So, what's this guys deal?"

The girl arched a brow at him as she began to move slightly away from him, eyes turning back to the enemy, claws crooked meaningfully as she started to shift to the attack.

"His attacks are bone-based. He can pull them out of his body, change their shape, and regrow them instantly. I think he can pretty much control them at will. And they're as hard as steel."

Teruyoshi grimaced, eyeing the older teen with a faint sort of disgust. To manipulate his bones like that, and use them as weapons had to some sort of kekkei genkai. Probably not one that was at all pleasant to watch either.

Setting himself, he moved in the opposite direction as the kunoichi, eyes fixed on the enemy, a threateningly confident smirk playing around his mouth. The Oto-nin looked silently back and forth between him and the blood smeared jinchuriki girl prowling the other direction.

In an instant, he brought up his arms in a sharp arc. Teruyoshi felt the faint coiling of disgust in his gut tighten as he saw the tips of the pale fingers had split, muscle and skin peeling apart neatly and bloodlessly to reveal the white of bone. The motion of his arms sent five tiny pieces of bone hurtling towards Teruyoshi, and another five towards Narumi.

Not at all worried, Teruyoshi whipped his sword smoothly from it's place across his back, and whipped it out and down in a smooth strike, sending out a powerful blast of wind from the blade. The wind struck the bones, scattering them, and pushing them away from the Suna-nin.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Narumi whipping around in fluid, twisting motions, weaving through and under the projectiles and passing through them unharmed. Laughing appreciatively, Teruyoshi threw himself forward, sprinting across the river towards the enemy. While his water-walking skills were still rough from lack of practice, they were adequate.

When he reached the other side, he threw himself into the twisting dance of the sword, slashing towards the enemy. The Oto-nin met the attack smoothly, fading back out of the way of his strikes, eyes narrowing slightly as what looked like sharpened ribs exploded outward from his chest and back in a forest of spikes.

"Dance of the pines!"

Spinning in under the slicing steel blade, the Oto-nin surged towards Teruyoshi, palm extended towards him even as another bone spear erupted from it. The blonde cursed sharply, throwing his body to the side as he evaded the outstretched palm. But the movement threw him off balance, leaving him momentarily vulnerable.

Before the Oto-nin could take full advantage of the opening, a pair of deceptively slender arms wrapped around each of his arms from behind. The two bunshin planted their feet and heaved, dragging the enemy back. In the same instant, another blonde figure flashed past Teruyoshi, swiping her claws across the Oto-nin's face.

The enemy jerked back as Teruyoshi regained his footing and moved warily back. The Oto-nin hissed, eyes tightly closed against the blood spilling from the diagonal cuts slicing down his forehead and across his nose and cheek. Two bone spears erupted from his elbows, plowing into the bunshin and dispersing them instantly.

Fortunately, by that time both Teruyoshi and the kunoichi were back out of range. Regarding the now bleeding enemy, Teruyoshi realized that perhaps close combat was not the best option. Before he could say anything, Narumi created a slew of Kage Bunshin and charged back in fearlessly.

Frowning, Teruyoshi waited tensely for her to disengage so he could launch his new line of attack. He had to admit though, he was impressed by her skill. The bunshin wove around each other and the blows of the enemy with a fluid grace that he wouldn't have thought someone with so much raw power would have been able to master.

But while it was beautiful and even entrancing to watch, it wasn't long before the bunshin were dispersed, some by attacks of the enemy, others when they were caught striking a blow at the Oto-nin and impaled by the forest of bony spikes standing out from his torso.

When the last clone dispersed, Teruyoshi called out sharply.

"Down!"

The Konoha kunoichi shot away from the enemy, instinctively acting in concert with him as an ally, and removing herself from the path of his attack. Grinning, Teruyoshi bit into the pad of his thumb, and smeared the blood down the blade of his sword.

Pulling the sword back, he arched his back, and whipped the sword forward, slicing at the air in front of him. As he did, he sent his chakra fountaining through the blade, using the steel and blood as a focus, and crying out the name of the jutsu.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

A battle-scarred weasel with a scythe was momentarily visible in the winds springing forth in front of him, before it vanished away. A roaring gale of slicing wind blades sprayed out across the stone, slamming into the Oto-nin in a spray of blood, sending his body smashing back into the stone wall of the valley.

The kunoichi came up behind him, eyeing the wind storm warily.

"Did you get him, 'ttebayo?"

Teruyoshi half turned his head and made to answer him, but before he could the winds died away, and with them his voice. Deep scars stretched across the stone and up the canyon wall, but the Oto-nin in the center was still standing.

Sprays of his blood painted the stone around him, and pieces of skin had been sliced away from his body. But he still stood. The holes in his skin revealed sheets of glistening white bone, even as they healed closed, and what skin was undamaged was covered in black markings. The Oto-nin regarded them evenly, still not affected even by this most devastating attack.

"Most impressive. If I hadn't formed bone plates just beneath my skin, I would certainly have been sliced to pieces."

Bending his head forward, his hair slid away from the nape of his neck, revealing the sickening sight of bulging skin splitting to reveal the white bone of his spine pushing up through the skin. Reaching back, he grabbed the thing and pulled.

Teruyoshi stared as the bones slid out and out, until the Oto-nin had to start drawing forward over his shoulder, causing the flexible whip to bend around him. Cruel looking spikes sprouted from the sides of it, and when the end finally slid free, his spine had already regrown, and the dark hole was closing over. The Oto-nin stared dispassionately at the two of them from behind the long spear-whip of bone.

"Dance of the clematis."

The thing lost its rigidity as the Oto-nin whipped it forward. Teruyoshi's eyes widened, and he tried to dodge back, flinging his arm out to knock Narumi away from the line of attack. The whip extended further than he'd thought it could, and wrapped around him, pinning his arms to his sides and cracking sharply against itself.

Cursing, Teruyoshi tried to struggle, eyes narrowed in fury. It was almost like fighting a puppet master, but not quite. Thankfully, the spikes on the whip were laying along his body, not digging into him, but no matter how much he struggled, the bone restraints didn't loosen.

Behind him he heard Narumi cry out sharply, but he was too focused on finding a way out of the situation at hand to reply to her. Slowly, the Oto-nin began pulling him in, a new bone spear glistening as it protruded from his palm.

As the Oto-nin pulled him forward, the black markings began to spread and fade slightly, melting together until the Oto-nin's skin was a dark grey. Black markings above and below his eyes spread and merged, sweeping up the sides of his face, and his body deformed. A great tail sprouted from the base of his spine, and great spikes of bone like horns tore through the skin of his back.

When the transformation was complete, Teruyoshi found himself facing a lizard-like creature that bore an odd semi-resemblance to Shuukaku, the great bijuu that dwelt within the depths of Gaara's seal.

However, Teruyoshi was accustomed to such transformations. The sight did not conjure unmatched fear in him, though it did warn him to be even more wary of the enemy shinobi than before. Such things were never purely for show, and his skills were probably more deadly than ever now.

Digging his feet into the stone as best he could, he sent all the chakra he could manage to the soles of his feet, trying to hold his ground. He managed to slow his unwilling advance slightly, but nothing more than that.

He was still trying to come up with a solution, when a voice growled dangerously behind him, making him fight an impulse to crane around to look back over his shoulder.

"Let go of him, 'ttebayo!"

The Oto-nin turned his eyes to something just behind Teruyoshi, eyes as flat and dead as ever, demonic appearance making the unblinking stare even more unnerving. It was like the Oto-nin wasn't even really human, but just a creature masquerading as such.

Teruyoshi shivered, and called over his shoulder in an urgent, strained voice, never taking his eyes off the enemy.

"I'll be fine, Konoha. Take your teammate and get out of here. That's your mission, right?"

There was a moment of silence, and then Narumi's voice rang out behind him, strong and determined.

"Don't know much abut Konoha-nin, do you Suna? We never abandon a comrade."

The next thing he knew, a bunshin surged up behind the creature, somehow managing to avoid the spikes and wrap her arms around his neck. Another two wrapped themselves around his arms, holding him in place as best they can. As they did, the wind behind him picked up, and a gold and orange blur shot past him.

Narumi charged fearlessly towards the enemy, one arm stretched behind her. In her hand, outlining her claws in light, was a whirling maelstrom of chakra compressed into a tight ball. Lunging forward, she snapped her arm forward, sinking the jutsu into the Oto-nin's gut.

The Oto-nin's body curved forward, eyes widening in shock. Shards of shattered bone flew as they were ripped apart, and the Oto-nin's body was pushed back, his feet plowing shallow furrows in the soft stone.

When the wind faded and the jutsu dissipated, Narumi was left with her palm planted in the center of a bloody, spiraling gouge, a sheet of bone beneath her hand deeply carved with a spiral pattern. Shredded muscle and skin hung over the bone plate, slowly knitting back together. The Oto-nin coughed once, blood splattering across his chin, and his breathing was ragged, but otherwise he seemed to have escaped harm.

Narumi was trying to yank her arm back, but new spikes of bone had sprouted from the Oto-nin's chest, piercing and trapping her arm in several spots, holding her in place. The Oto-nin dropped the whip holding Teruyoshi in place, and the green-eyed boy thrashed free as quickly as he could.

Just before he won his freedom, the Oto-nin slammed a palm into the kunoichi's abdomen in a mirror blow of the one she'd inflicted on him. Teruyoshi paled, staring wide-eyed as a bone spear erupted in bloody glory from her lower back.

There was a moment of frozen silence. Then the bones clutching her arm retracted, and the Oto-nin tossed her savagely away. The bone slid free with a horrible sucking sound, and the Konoha-nin flew backwards, splashing into the river and sinking out of sight beneath the surface.

Alarmed and angry, Teruyoshi shouted and yanked himself free of the last coil of the bone whip. Throwing a handful of shuriken towards the enemy, he sprang back towards the river, unleashing a powerful blast of wind.

Hoping that the wind would keep the enemy busy for the moment, he turned towards the river, heart in his mouth, gut tying itself into knots. He was terrified that the injury might prove fatal. Not only would Narumi die, something that for some reason made him panic, but Gaara would never forgive him.

One part of the river was ribboned with the dark red of blood, and as he raced over the water towards it, he saw the kunoichi surface, gasping and coughing, hunched low in the water with her golden braid a sodden trail of color in the red-tinted water around her.

Before he could even register his relief that she at least had not drowned, something heavy and grey whistled through the air towards him. The Oto-nin, looking more like a beast than a human, slammed it's thick tail into his side.

Teruyoshi gasped, vision greying at the edges as he was tossed easily up into the air. The power of the blow was so great that he landed sprawled on the near arm of the Shodaime Hokage statue. His head cracked hard against a carved fold of cloth, and he choked in pain, the world around him spinning wildly into a confusing and meaningless blur.

* * *

><p>Narumi kept one arm pressed tightly against the wound in her abdomen. She blearily forced herself to swim to the bank where Sasuke lay in the coffin. In her minds eye, she could see Teruyoshi's brilliant green eyes fixing on her, temporarily distracted as he tried to come to her aid. Kimimaro's attack on him, the pained curve of his back as he was thrown into the air.<p>

Shuddering, she choked as a wave of water splashed into her mouth, rushing down her throat and into her lungs with her most recent gasp of air. The violent shuddering of her ribs and core muscles that accompanied the action had her convulsing in pain as the abdominal wound was jarred and pulled.

She barely made it to the shore, laboriously dragging herself half out of the water and up onto the bank. Diluted blood leaked out into a puddle beneath her wounds in a watery red pool. She'd lost so much blood already that she was becoming light-headed and dizzy with it.

With an effort, she raised her eyes to look around. Kimimaro was just stalking past her towards the barrier. Teruyoshi was nowhere in sight, and the beast that the Oto-nin had become was already healing from the wound the rasengan had given him. She had been afraid that the jutsu had lacked proper power given her exhausted and light-headed state, but the damage inflicted was even less than she'd feared.

She did take some satisfaction from the fact that the grey-haired shinobi was still coughing up blood intermittently. As he passed her, she reached out and weakly wrapped a hand around his ankle, trying to keep him from advancing further on the barrier protecting Sasuke.

Kimimaro looked down at her silently, and she glared up at him, heaving for breath, forcing the pain she was feeling to the very back of her mind.

"...I...I won't let you..."

The Oto-nin yanked his ankle from her grasp and calmly continued towards the barrier. When he spoke he didn't look at her, and his cool voice was caught between cruelty, and dismissive lack of interest.

"Give up. You are bleeding out. Your allies are scattered and unable to aid you, soon to join you in the land of the dead. And now, the vessel will belong utterly to Orochimaru-sama."

So saying, he dismissed her entirely, and pulled an arm back, focusing on the barrier. A large, spear-like cone of bone that covered his entire forearm grew from his skin, and with a twist of his body, he brought it slamming into the barrier.

The barrier's cool light flickered at the impact, but held. Kimimaro cocked his head, and brought his arm back again, hammering into the barrier over and over with relentless strength, determined to overcome it by sheer brute force. And indeed, with every blow the light of the barrier dimmed further.

Narumi watched him in horror, struggling to drag herself closer. But with each moment, her body grew weaker, refusing to obey her frantic mental screams for it to obey, to move, to attack!

Feeling her strength ebbing, seeping slowly from the wound in her abdomen to spill across the ground, she scraped her claws harshly against the stone beneath her, anger rising furiously into her throat, choking her as hot tears of frustration slipped from her cheeks. She couldn't even summon the control to flare her chakra and call for Saburo.

As her senses began to dim, it felt as if a fog was falling over her, distancing her from her surroundings and muffling both sound and scent. As the fog thickened and she drifted further, a darkly familiar, growling voice. It rumbled through her, shaking her very ribs and vibrating up her spine, pulsing sluggishly through her thinning blood.

"**So, tell me Wenchling. Have you a death wish?"**

Kyuubi's voice was oddly dry, less cruel, if more caustic. Mutely, Narumi squeezed her eyes shut. Memories flashed through her mind, and she could feel the heavy presence of the Kyuubi, as if he were flipping through her memories with her, absorbing her knowledge into himself. Snorting, he bellowed derisively at her.

"**Fool human! This foe is beyond your strength! If you want to die so badly, I will be more than pleased to oblige you!"**

Narumi snarled weakly back at him, summoning up what concentration she could.

'_Not gonna die! I won't lose to him! I can't!'_

There was a puzzled, expectant silence. Then the heavy presence came again, and a single question resonated through her mind, filling her mind.

"**Why?"**

Her mind flashed to Sasuke, and droll understanding washed through her from Kyuubi.

"**Ah...I see. Your kith and kin. It seems I was right. You do have vixen in you."**

The Kyuubi's voice took on a certain amount of dark laughter.

"**How amusing! Very well, Wenchling! I shall give you the power to crush your opponent!"**

Before she could throw up any defenses, anger that bordered on rage boiled up through the blonde. Strength rose with it, filling her utterly, pressing up through her body and filling her to the brim with violent heat.

The thick, red rage of Kyuubi mixed with her own anger as it filled her, the chakra that accompanied it pulsing through her coils in place of her own. As the chakra continued to pour into her, her consciousness began to narrow and fall away. As her sense of the world around her faded, a roar ripped from her throat.

* * *

><p>Shaking his head against the disorientation, Teruyoshi forced himself to roll over onto his stomach and dragged himself to where he could peer over the arm of the statue he was lying across. What he saw made him curse his sluggish body, and attempt to force himself into motion.<p>

Down on the narrow bank, the Oto-nin was assaulting the barrier thrown around the coffin that contained the Uchiha. Narumi lay half in and half out of the water, her body bonelessly limp, one arm flung out across the stone towards her enemy.

He feared the worst as he saw the utter stillness of her body, but before he could force himself into motion, something very odd began to happen. The bubbling red chakra of a bijuu began drifting up from her in wisps.

The wisps quickly thickened into a veil as the Kyuubi's chakra spilled right _through_ her skin. As the bubbling cloak covered her entire body, the water around her began to hiss and bubble, steaming and boiling as she slowly rose to her feet and waded onto the shore.

Her wounds were steaming as much as the river water had, and fresh, sweat-slicked closed over them, leaving her uninjured. Her features were even more heavily influenced by the Kyuubi than before, and a snarl pulling at her lips.

More chakra exploded forcefully outwards from her. The tie of her braid burst, her hitae-ate blasted off of her forehead, wild golden hair whipping wildly around her in the currents of the chakra.

Striding forward, she gripped one of the massive bone spears protruding from his back in each of her hands, and wrenched backwards. The Oto-nin stumbled back, surprised. Quickly he yanked around to face her. Instead of tearing his bone spikes from her hands, the additional force merely caused her claws to slice cleanly through them.

Tossing the two pieces away, the feral kunoichi gave her enemy a predatory grin. Teruyoshi watched her, remembering something Gaara had recently told him. There was a state, between full possession by the bijuu, and control of oneself, where the bijuu's instincts combined with your own and took over.

It had only happened a few times to Gaara, but the state could apparently be triggered by extreme circumstances. If he had to judge, he'd say that was what was going on with Narumi. A glowing red tail swished around her body, along with long tapered ears atop her head, and yet she did not give off the paralyzing sakki that a full bijuu possession would cause.

The Oto-nin launched himself towards her in an attack, but she simply caught him by the hair and turned, flipping him over her shoulder and slamming him back first into the ground. The shallow cuts opened across her skin by his bones barely had time to bleed before they healed in a rush of power and steam.

Lifting a hand, she crooked her claws, summoning another maelstrom of chakra. This time, it was brilliant red, though it didn't bubble as the chakra that roiled across her body did. Without missing a beat, she slammed the jutsu down into the Oto-nin's chest.

Blood burst from the enemies lips, his eyes widening, and then sliding out of focus, going glassy as his body slumped back against the ground, grey skin returning to alabaster pale, markings fading away and tail and spines receding into his body.

Teruyoshi stared, shocked. An enemy that powerful, and she'd taken him down so quickly. Logically speaking, he'd always known that she was potentially as dangerous as Gaara, but knowing and seeing were two entirely different things.

The kunoichi stared down at the corpse for a moment, nostrils flaring. Once she was assured of his death, her lip curled back in a snarl of satisfaction, and she turned half towards the coffin and it's flickering barrier.

In that moment of stillness, Teruyoshi stared down at her, somehow feeling that he was memorizing every detail of the fierce, bloody, magnificent scene below him.

Long golden hair swirling through the air, slitted crimson eyes glinting beneath fine brows, slender tanned limbs taking on a ruddy glow beneath the shifting chakra cloak, clothing fluttering around her. The ears and tail he had noticed before seemed almost a natural extension of her, the way she carried herself making her seem like an otherworldly creature. Absently, she lifted her hand to her mouth, tongue flickering out to lick, cat-like, at her blood as it dripped across her claws.

He'd always thought she was beautiful, and while this probably should have terrified him, he was used to greater scenes of blood and carnage centered around the more terrible power of his brother. No, even now he couldn't help but feel that the deadly grace she exuded was fascinating.

Then she had turned fully towards the coffin, and the odd trance he'd fallen under broke. His eyes widened in alarm as he realized that she would instinctively strike out at it. If he didn't stop her, she'd regret it later.

Forcing himself into a crouch, the Suna-nin sprang from the statue, landing silently on the surface of the river. He stumbled for a moment, and then surged forward, dashing up behind her. Before she could turn, he wrapped one arm around her shoulders, and clamped the other hand over her eyes.

"Easy, Uzumaki! Come on, calm down! It's alright, everything's over now. It's over."

Making sure his voice was the soothing tone he sometimes used when he spoke to Gaara, he winced slightly when her claws dug into the arm wrapped around her shoulders, a warning growl rumbling in her throat. The bijuu chakra that wrapped her body burned his arms and chest through his clothing, but he ignored it.

Continuing to keep up a soothing stream of speech, he forced himself to wait calmly as the chakra cloak slowly faded away. He'd already been quite badly burned, but he'd had similar burns from Gaara before. Claws faded to fingernails, and in a moment, he was holding up an exhausted kunoichi, her limp hair falling quietly over his arm.

When she spoke, her voice was a little harsh and raspy, tired.

"...Teruyoshi?"

Nodding, he dropped his hand from her eyes, though he didn't let go of her shoulders. He had the feeling that she might fall over if he did.

"Yeah. You got the Oto-nin, by the way. I think we're in the clear."

There was a long moment of silence, and Teruyoshi could sense that she was staring hard at the flickering barrier, and the smoking coffin contained within. Wearily, he wondered if he was seeing things, and if not, if he should be concerned about the chakra roiling thickly around the wooden object.

Doing his best to make his voice light, he glanced down at her with a tired half-smile.

"By the way, congratulations on making Chuunin."

The blonde twisted her head around to look up at him, obviously startled. His smile widened slightly, and he continued in a teasing voice.

"Of course, I'll make chuunin myself, soon enough. So you won't have to worry about fraternization with the lower ranks for long."

Narrowing her eyes, the girl snorted and shook her head, stepping forward. Teruyoshi instantly dropped his arm, though he followed closely after her. With a few hesitant gestures, she broke the barrier around the coffin, and stepped forward. Just as she did, the coffin blasted apart in a roiling mass of chakra and smoke.

Cursing, Teruyoshi dragged Narumi back out of the danger zone. She yanked urgently away from him as soon as the smoke cleared. The Uchiha stood there, looking unsteady and horrified.

Black, flame-like markings covered half of his body. The eye on that side of his face was oddly distorted, the iris a strange, flat gold, while the sclera was a dull gray-black. He looked slowly up at the two of them, his eyes alarmed. Bloody rope-burns ringed his wrists, and he looked much the worse for wear.

Stumbling forward, the Uchiha gasped out a few rough words, apparently not even noticing Teruyoshi's presence.

"...Na-Narumi...help...me..."

With that, he collapsed forward. Though Narumi wasn't in much better shape, she lunged forward and caught him, stumbling to the side and slamming her shoulder into the stone wall of the canyon. Turning her back to the rock, she slid down it, cradling her teammate against her chest.

The two Konoha-nin stared blankly ahead and slightly down, as if they were past the point of registering further danger. Teruyoshi hesitantly took a step forward, but before he could reach them, Haruno, the boy with the pink hair, skidded into the valley.

His eyes locked onto the two beaten looking figures sitting against the wall, and he swore viciously enough to make Teruyoshi stare at him in surprise. The boy seemed much too by the book to know _that _particular term.

Making a break for his teammates, he bolted past Teruyoshi, hissing under his breath as he went to his knees beside the other two, hands flying over them uneasily.

"Are you two alright? What happened? Damn, Narumi-chan why didn't you call me? No, don't answer that!"

Whipping around on his knees, the rosette fixed fiery eyes on the older boy, voice sharp.

"You! We have to get them back to the village."

Teruyoshi nodded in surprise. He hadn't known that pinky had so much fire in him. Stepping forward, he spoke quietly.

"My brothers will meet up with us along with your other comrades. I don't think your teammates can walk, so if you'd like, I can carry Uzumaki."

Saburo looked somewhat torn, but he nodded tightly. Grabbing Sasuke's wrist, he dragged the darker boys arm over his shoulders, looping his free arm around his waist and hauling his friend to his feet.

"Come on, Sasuke. We're taking you home."

Teruyoshi bent to scoop the exhausted blonde into his arms. Once he had her, he turned quietly to the only fully conscious member of team seven. The Haruno eyed him for a minute, then nodded once.

"Thank you. For helping them."

Then he turned, and leapt quickly away from the valley and into the forest. Teruyoshi sighed, adjusting his grip. Trees. His legs were always sore after traveling through trees. Not that there was any choice right now. Drawing in a breath, he glanced around, and scooped up Narumi's hitae-ate with his toe and flipping it into the air.

The half-conscious kunoichi caught sight of the flashing object rising up next to her, and caught it weakly, holding it tightly to her chest. Teruyoshi chuckled slightly as he followed after Saburo, heading back towards the ninja village hidden deep in the thick, dangerous forest.

"Easy there, Beautiful. We'll have you and your teammates back in Konoha before you know it."

The girl stirred slightly, muttered something under her breath too low for him to catch, and then relaxed into sleep.

* * *

><p>Danzo strode through the streets of Konoha towards a very specific establishment. It was a bar where the more reckless elements of Konoha's civilian citizenry tended to congregate. Root kept careful track of the movements of such people. After all, they were easy to manipulate, and thus useful.<p>

The work he was about to do could easily have been left to one of his ROOT operatives, but this was work both vital and delicate for Danzo's ambitions in the service of the village. And as he well knew, if you truly wanted something done right, the best way to accomplish that was to do the task yourself.

With a quick flicker of chakra, the War Hawk called up a henge, transforming himself into a harmless looking, aged civilian man. Any other civilian who saw him would swear he was an ordinary man who'd spent his life engaged in hard labor.

Of course, any passing ninja would immediately know him for what he was, and be suspicious. After all, you didn't get to his level without your chakra system becoming far stronger and more developed than any civilian could ever hope to have. But it was unlikely that ninja would pass through this particular establishment, so he would be fairly safe in his disguise.

Once he was assured that all was in place, he moved quietly through the shadowed doorway, and headed for an empty barstool. He'd chosen a time of day that was just before the truly busy hours for such a place. He didn't want a crowd of cautious older men, he wanted the fiery young layabouts who would have the place to themselves in the hours before their elders were freed from their jobs.

Taking a seat, and glancing furtively around the room, he allowed himself a tiny spark of satisfaction. The young men he saw lounging around the tables were just what he wanted. Old enough to be full of fire and passion, young enough to be foolish and trusting of an elder.

When the bar tender turned questioningly to him, he ordered a beer. Normally he didn't touch the stuff, not caring for the taste, or the way it dulled his senses. The coarse drink was one he associated with civilians who had no taste for anything better. But if he were to be accepted by these young men, he would have to pass every test they could set him. Even the ones they weren't consciously aware of.

Lifting the bottle to his lips, he tilted his head back and took a long drink, ignoring the rank stench that filled his nostrils and the acidic burn as the foul liquid washed over his tongue and down his throat. Setting the bottle down in front of him, he fixed an expression of vague, brooding worry on his face, and waited.

Sure enough, it was hardly a moment before a slender young man with flat brown hair and eyes wandered up to lean against the bar next to him inquisitively.

"Hey old-timer. What are you doing in here so early?"

Danzo forced himself to chuckle warmly, his voice taking on the rough, husky tones of a man who'd spent his life working hard and drinking deeply.

"I didn't cut work if that's what you're wondering, youngster. I'm retired."

The younger man whistled, ordering a beer of his own.

"Don't mind if I join you then?"

Danzo shook his head, making sure that the friendly smile he gave the other was still tinged with a hint of worry.

"Help yourself. I'll warn you though, I can still drink a lad like you under the table."

The boy chuckled and lifted his bottle to clink it just a bit roughly against Danzo's own beverage. The two of them chattered aimlessly for a while, the conversation wandering over the various subjects of interest to civilian working folk. Danzo made sure to lend a sympathetic ear at all times, nodding and murmuring reassurances, convincing his companion that the 'old man' was on his side. That he had his best interests at heart.

Then came the tricky part. When they were about halfway through their beers, the younger man glanced sideways at him with a slight frown.

"So, tell me Old-timer, what's bothering you?"

Danzo made sure to look surprised, and the younger man nudged him companionably, taking another long swig of his beer, and swiping the back of his wrist across his mouth.

"Come on, you've looked miserable ever since you got here."

Danzo fixed an uncertain half-smile on his face, making sure his voice became tentative.

"Oh...no, it's nothing. It'd probably bore a lad such as yourself."

The boy snorted, leaning closer and eyeing him closely.

"Ah, you're not the type to worry over nothing. I know that!"

Danzo hesitated slightly, pretending to consider. Then with a sigh, he appeared to give in, leaning in and lowering his voice slightly as if he didn't wish to be heard.

"Well...the other day I overheard some of the ninja talkin'. You remember the Uchiha massacre?"

The younger man nodded curiously, leaning in and lowering his own voice in response to Danzo's secretive manner.

"Yeah, I heard about it when I was a kid. One of those Uchiha kids lost it and slaughtered everybody in the clan but that little one that was in the Chuunin exams a while back, yeah?"

Danzo nodded. An incomplete and vague summary, but enough understanding for his purposes.

"That's right. Well, the traitor ran off as soon as he was done murderin' his family, and turned nuke-nin. But the way I heard it, he's showed back up, tryin' to get his hands on the Kyuubi brat."

While Danzo was aware that the jinchuriki girl was not one and the same being with Kyuubi, he was also aware that there was little if any distinction between the two in the minds of the civilians, particularly the generation that was old enough to know of her existence and lost family members in the attack, but young enough to have grown up resenting her.

The boy proved his speculation right when he scoffed slightly, taking another deep swig of his beer, and speaking dismissively.

"So what? Good riddance to bad rubbish, that's what I say."

Danzo nodded, his tone halfway between commiseration and worry.

"Aye, I'd agree with you there, but here's the thing. Back when Kyuubi had first attacked, there was rumors. Rumors that the Uchiha could control the Kyuubi with their sharingan, make it do things."

Dropping his eyes to his bottle, he swirled the liquid in the heavy brown glass contemplatively, almost absently. Carefully now. He had to lead the boy to the proper conclusion, but still leave plenty of room for the seed to grow without restraint.

"That's what's botherin' me, ya see? If the traitor can control the Kyuubi, and he gets his hands on it...well, he already killed his own family, didn't he? Why not go for the rest of the village?"

Shaking his head slightly, he took on a troubled, brooding look.

"And then with the new Hokage - a woman! - lettin' the thing run around all over creation...well, it just unsettles a man. Makes him wonder."

Downing the last of his beer with a swift gulp, he shook himself, and slowly got to his feet, smiling ruefully and clapping the younger man on the shoulder.

"Ah, well! Don't let the foolishness of an old man worry you lad!"

So saying, he tossed a few coins on the counter, and hobbled from the bar, leaving behind a very still young civilian. As soon as he was clear of the quarter, he released the henge and faded back into the shadows, heading back to ROOT headquarters.

Yes, the seed had been skillfully planted, and in fertile ground. Now his simple suggestions would grow into full-fledged rumors, and suspicion. And in due time, those would bear fruit, bringing the latest step in his great plan to completion.

A tiny smile, nearly a smirk, passed over the dark, scarred face. Yes, now the village of Konoha was one step closer to peace.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Hey everyone! Sorry for the slight delay. Yet more internet problems at my house. Apparently our whole block is having some sort of problem. But I got this out as fast as I could, and I thank you for your patience with me!

So, reviews! As always, many thanks to you all! Such a pleasure to hear from you!  
>To Zelga Lim Li, Yep, the Teme is still loyal! No need to worry on that account! If anything, Orochimaru's attempts to drag him off and show him 'real power' are going to drive him to even greater heights of loyalty and contempt for all things traitorous.<br>To jayley, thank you for the support! Believe me, I treasure the reviews I do get all the more for not being deluged in them. You guys are my inspiration \(^0^)/. I hope you liked the retrieval mission. Honestly, I wanted to write a whole lot more detail into it but…when I tried, the chapter started to grow ridiculously huge, even for me (-_-'). So yeah. It ended up like this.  
>To ChaosIdeals, My thanks for the review! I shall do my best to keep the interesting coming!<br>To Tempest NightMoon, Well, I'm afraid Narumi doesn't get her hands on the sound four, on account of them pulling the whole 'splitting up' stunt…but don't worry. They were thoroughly trounced for her, by proxy. Heh heh heh.  
>To Ceralyn, do let me know what you thought of the retrieval mission! It turned out to be more difficult to write than I thought, so I'd love to hear what you guys thought.<br>To LOLmythLOL, Thank you very much for the support and the enthusiasm. I shall strive not to disappoint with future updates, and hope to hear from you again. Please enjoy!  
>To Zandamh, Not to worry, Shika didn't forget Chouji. But in this storyline, he's off on a mission at the moment, like Shinako, Nobuye, and Tenma. Actually, he's with Nobuye and Tenma at the moment, but I may have forgotten to write that in? If so, I apologize. Not to worry though! I love Chouji, and he shall certainly have gloriously shining moments in this fic. I promise.<br>To Hugo0974, please continue to enjoy the story (^_^).

And the explanations!

First off, Narumi subconsciously checks a lot of her plans and ideas with Shika before finalizing things. That's not because she lacks confidence or anything, it's simply because she knows just how smart Shika is, and if she can verify her plans as being good ones, she'd rather have that extra reassurance.

Second, Danzo. Sneaky bastard, isn't he? Manipulating a couple of power hungry old buzzards like that. The thing about Danzo is, no matter how slimy he is, he's practical. Very realistic view of his own abilities, so he's much less vulnerable to the type of arrogance that leads to stupid mistakes. And as you can see, he's very busy manipulating everything to go his way. So tell me, did anyone see that particular suggestion about Narumi and ROOT coming?

Third, No, Sasuke didn't cooperate with the 'you-must-take-this-pill-and-die' thing. But you know, restrained fourteen year old boy versus four twenty-something year olds with the second level of their curses unlocked? Yeah, not good odds. Force feeding you know.

Fourth, you have to remember that in this fic, Sasuke is not going with Orochimaru's minions willingly. So, that changes things a great deal. For one, they can't count on him to go on to Orochimaru on his own if they get caught up in a fight. Matter of fact, when he gets his second level of the cursed seal, he's likely to start up even heavier and harder to control resistance. That means they can't afford to let the retrieval team catch up with them. So, when Kimimaro shows up, they decide to duplicate the coffin with Sasuke inside, and split up. The sound four takes the fake, thinking the retrieval team will assume they still have the real thing. Also, they think that Kimimaro has a greater chance of restraining Sasuke and taking him the all the way to Orochimaru once he wakes up.

Fifth, the reasons Narumi gave for the team splitting up to chase them are all true. However, she also has a hunch that the new guy has Sasuke, which ends up paying out. I think that's all already been explained pretty thoroughly though.

Sixth, because Sasuke is mentally trying to resist being taken to Orochimaru, he forces himself to burn through the 'death-pill' faster than he should have, and wakes up faster than he should have been able to. The downside is that his body isn't through changing yet, and he's still very weak and confused. He actually passes out a couple different times after that first return to wakefulness. This is why he doesn't get out of the barrel in time to help Narumi, and when he does he's still pretty much helpless. By forcing himself to wake up early, he delayed the recovery process from his 'death', and weakened himself physically. On the upside, in doing so he prevented Orochimaru from delving further into his mind during the time he would have been unconscious and without mental defenses.

Seventh, Kimimaro creates a bone bunshin to lay a false trail, hoping to distract his pursuers, and forcing Narumi and Saburo to split up. Narumi, of course, finds the real one, and does her best to kick his butt into next week. On the other hand, even Gaara almost lost to Kimimaro, sooo….yeah, she needs help. Even then, she ends up needing Kyuubi's strength. Oh, and the reason rasengan didn't work properly the first time she used it is because she is still new to the technique, and the chakra control it requires is difficult for her. Having lost so much blood, it was impressive enough for her to have called it up at all.

Eighth, Kyuubi. Yeah, he's got a certain fondness for Narumi. As he said the first time they met, She has more 'spine' and 'vixen' to her than any of his other hosts, who have been mostly female. He likes her gutsiness, and strength of spirit. Not to say he wouldn't still shred her and take control of her body if he could…but it wouldn't be personal. Am I making any sense?

Ninth, No, Teruyoshi is not a pervert. Like I said, he's used to full-on demon transformations, so first stage bijuu chakra cloak doesn't really scare him the way it would other people. Plus, he's the type of guy to be attracted to strong girls. So that's why he reacts to Narumi the way he does.

And lastly, Saburo does catch up with the clone, but it disperses during the real Kimimaro's battle with Narumi, and he had started heading after her. He was about back to where they'd split up when he felt the burst of chakra from Kyuubi. However, he doesn't know that's from Narumi. He thought it was the Oto-nin and that she'd gotten into really serious trouble, and double-timed it up to the valley of the end. Where he promptly took charge of two very exhausted teammates.


	18. Black Seeds

They were nearly back Konohagakure when Narumi shifted in his arms and blinked slowly up at him, just barely hovering on this side of unconsciousness and nearly delirious with blood loss and what looked like chakra exhaustion.

"...Sasuke...what about Sasuke? We did get him, didn't we?"

Once again, as he had several times over the past half hour, the Suna-nin nodded patiently and answered with gruff gentleness. He was keenly aware of the rosette Konoha-nin's warning glare. The other boy had been mutely warning him away from any loss of patience or caution the entire trip, apparently not at all happy about entrusting the kunoichi to his care, however temporary.

"Yeah, Beautiful. You got him back."

Before the girl could resettle for another period of dazed silence and vacant staring, they found themselves surrounded by a flurry of white clothing as iryo-nin sprang up into the trees around them, voices firm and urgent.

"Genin Haruno! What are the conditions of Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Narumi?"

The boy sighed in relief, pacing the iryo-nin rather than stopping.

"I'm not sure. They're both pretty out of it, and the Oto-nin did something strange to Sasuke, but I don't know what."

The Iryo-nin exchanged a glance, and then they nodded sharply. The one who seemed to be the squad leader spoke briskly.

"Alright. We'll take them now."

As the group came to a halt, Saburo tightened his grip on Sasuke. Teruyoshi watched his eyes flicker between his teammates and the iryo-nin. Then he uneasily turned Sasuke over to the iryo-nin. But when one of them reached to take Narumi from Teruyoshi, the rosette called out sharply.

"Wait! I'll take Narumi. I can carry her as well as anybody."

Teruyoshi blinked in surprise, and then realized with irritation that the other boy didn't want either teammate out of his sight, but as he could only carry one, he'd rather entrust one of them to the iryo-nin of his own village than to a Suna-nin.

However, he didn't say anything about his irritation. Instead, he simply handed over the blonde girl. For some reason, he felt enven more annoyed when she sighed, and relaxed into the other boys hold, curling trustingly against his chest.

Shaking himself in confused irritation, he threw off the odd feeling in time to catch the tail end of the rosettes latest inquiry of the iryo-nin.

"What about the others?"

As they resumed their course towards Konoha, the iryo-nin replied in an efficient report.

"The Hokage ordered the first and second medic teams dispatched as well. They've already recovered the main squad, and taken them to receive urgent medical treatment."

The rosette looked alarmed, voice tightening.

"What? What happened? Are they alright?"

The lead iryo-nin glanced at the boy in sympathy, though his tone remained calm.

"Shika Nara, and Inuzuka Kira have both taken heavy damage, but are not in life threatening danger. The Hyuuga heir, however, is in critical condition. We are uncertain as to whether or not he will pull through."

The rosette fell into a stricken silence, shoulders tight with anxiety as the blood drained from his face. Teruyoshi kept his silence until they reached the large gates of Konohagakure. The group came to a stop there, and lead iryo-nin spoke quickly in low tones to the two chuunin guards.

After a moment, they were waved through. The iryo-nin and Saburo raced off into the village, likely heading for the hospital. Teruyoshi made to follow them, and one of the chuunin gripped his upper arm. The man's voice was stiff and his gaze suspicious.

"You. Suna. The rest of your team is at the hospital. Join them there."

Teruyoshi scowled, yanking his arm away uneasily. He supposed he should expect it. After all, no matter that Sunagakure had been manipulated by Orochimaru, they had attacked this village. Invaded it. It was only natural that the shinobi here would view him and his brothers with wariness.

Ignoring the hostile stares of the guards, he followed after Saburo and the iryo-nin. They had gained quite a bit of ground, but he was able to follow them to the large white building that had to be the hospital.

He groaned slightly as they dropped from the roofs to the grassy green stretch of courtyard around the building. As they walked towards the building, he took a moment to wonder what sort of madness had infected these Konoha-nin that they must always travel in high places. His legs ached horribly from all this springing through the air.

Slowly, he followed the rest of the group into the building. Cool, sterile air washed over him as he passed through the door, and he shivered slightly. While the crisp dryness was soothing after the heavy wetness of forest air, the temperature was far too cold for the daytime.

The iryo-nin hustled Saburo and the two limp Konoha-nin down a hall and up a staircase, leaving his sight. He glanced around uncertainly. After a moment, he walked up to the main desk, and cleared his throat.

The white-robed kunoichi sitting behind the counter glanced up at him, and drew a sharp breath, eyes flickering to the glinting metal plate on his arm gaurd, proudly carved with the symbol of his village. Narrowing his eyes, he smirked at her, leaning carelessly against the counter.

"Hey there. Seen my brothers around? A red head with a gourd and a cranky kid all in black with Kabuki paint?"

Behind him, a familiar voice spoke up sharply.

Oi! I heard that, Aniki!"

Glancing over his shoulder, Teruyoshi let out a long breath, relief flooding through him. He'd been half afraid something might have happened to his brothers when his own opponent turned out to be so insanely strong. But there Kankuro stood, a bottle of water in one hand and a half-scowl on his face.

"Kankuro."

Punching him lightly in the shoulder, the younger boy rolled his eyes and beckoned him as he turned back down the hall.

"Come on. Gaara's outside the operating room."

Quickly, Teruyoshi followed and drew even with him. As the two of them ghosted along the hall, Teruyoshi glanced over, his voice quiet.

"So? How'd it go?"

Kankuro shrugged tiredly,

"Harder than we thought. Those Oto-nin put up quite a fight. If it weren't for that kunoichi, Nara, we probably would have been in deep trouble. Gaara managed to keep anybody from dying, though it was a close call with the Hyuuga. That's whose getting operated on. I think Gaara feels guilty."

Glancing over, Teruyoshi elbowed his younger brother with a slight frown.

"Why?"

Kankuro sounded more exasperated than anything else.

"I don't know. You know how he's been since he woke up after the exams. It wasn't even his fault. The Hyuuga kid jumped out in front of an arrow to protect the Inuzuka girl."

Shaking his head slightly, he sighed.

"Anyway, after the fight, the iryo-nin showed up and brought us back here. I don't think they like us much, though."

Teruyoshi snorted at the indignation in his brothers voice and rolled his eyes.

"Don't mind it, Kankuro. Let's just go find Gaara."

Glancing sideways at him, the puppeteer snorted.

"Speaking of, Gaara's been on pins and needles worrying about Uzumaki. You can bet he's gonna grill you."

Teruyoshi grimaced, and opened his mouth to say something. Before he could speak, they turned a corner and found themselves in a short corridor leading to a set of wide double doors with a glowing sign above them that read 'Op in Progress'.

Low benches with flat cushions lined the walls, and Gaara perched on one. His arms were crossed over his chest and his gourd leaned against the bench beside his legs. Looking up, his pale blue eyes widened a touch at the sight of his eldest brother. Standing, he fixed Teruyoshi with an unblinking stare.

"Teruyoshi-nii-san. I trust your end of the mission was successfully completed?"

Smiling weakly, the blonde's mind raced as he tried to think of a way to avoid mentioning that he'd nearly let the girl Gaara considered to be his first and only friend nearly die, while still explaining her current situation. Stalling desperately, he pretended not to notice the real question hidden in the words.

"Yeah. We got the Uchiha back from Oto and brought him back to the village. He's a little worse for wear, but the mission was a success."

Gaara cocked his head slightly, fingers tightening on his arms, and a slight tension threading through his tone of voice. Teruyoshi winced. He should have known Gaara would pick up on his attempt. The kid was more perceptive than anybody gave him credit for.

"And Narumi Uzumaki? Is she well?"

Teruyoshi rubbed the back of his neck and sighed.

"Well...that's complicated."

When anxiety and fear darkened pale blue eyes, Teruyoshi hastened to clarify the admittedly ambiguous statement.

"Hold on, I don't think she's in serious condition! Not anymore, anyway..."

Sighing, he dropped his gaze to the benches and gestured weakly.

"I'll explain. Can we just...sit down for a minute? Damn Konoha-nin have thighs of steel or something."

Kankuro interjected, making a deliberate effort to lighten the atmosphere.

"I know. All this bouncin' around through the air and never coming to ground...not even in the village! Give me a good stretch of desert or flatland any day."

Gaara didn't respond to either of them, but he settled back onto the bench. The other two settled on the bench opposite him and Teruyoshi winced slightly as his abused muscles relaxed. What he really needed was a good long soak in a hot-spring.

Pulling his thoughts forcefully back on track, he shook his head slightly and began to speak.

"After we split up, the trail diverged again. The Oto-nin that Uzumaki and Haruno were chasing cloned himself and split the trail again. They each followed one branch, and I decided to try the trail that headed towards Oto territory."

He leaned back against the wall, closing his eyes for a minute.

"When I arrived, Uzumaki had already engaged the enemy. She'd managed to separate the Oto-nin from the coffin in which they had placed Uchiha."

Kankuro interrupted, pulling back with a look of utter disgust.

"Wait a second. A coffin? I thought..."

Teruyoshi shrugged, shoving a hand distractedly through his wild hair, and wondering absently what exactly had happened before he arrived on the scene. Taking a deep breath, he resumed his tale.

"He wasn't dead. They put him in there alive."

Grimacing his agreement at the disgust on his brothers features, he continued.

"Anyway, Uzumaki had somehow put up a barrier seal around the coffin to keep the Oto-nin from escaping with the Uchiha. When I got there, we fought him together, but the guy was unnaturally strong. He had some sort of kekkai genkai that worked with his bones, and a strange power that stemmed from a mark on his chest."

A hint of frustration entered his voice as he remembered the battle.

"I thought I had him when I summoned Kamatari, but he started to change. That black mark on his chest spread all over his body and he got stronger. A lot stronger. He managed to catch me with a whip, and changed again. It was like..."

Here he struggled for a way to describe what he had felt and seen without saying something cruel to Gaara.

"It was almost like he was a jinchuriki. He changed into something not human...but he was still in control. It was...unsettling."

Now he lifted his eyes to Gaara, feeling that he should keep an eye on the younger boys reactions to what he was about to say.

"Uzumaki attacked him in an attempt to protect me, and was stabbed just below her ribcage. The Oto-nin threw her into the river. I had managed to get free during the struggle between them, and went after her."

Gaara was stiff and still, and Teruyoshi had to work at not twisting his fingers or fidgeting under that pale, unwavering gaze.

"The Oto-nin knocked me up into one of the statues bordering the waterfall in the valley, and I was...temporarily stunned. When I came too, the Oto-nin was working on breaking the barrier seal. Uzumaki had made it to the bank but...she wasn't moving. I thought she'd bled out."

Gaara's knuckles whitened as his hands fisted in the cloth covering the crook of his elbows. He didn't say anything, but his lips compressed to a thin line, and Teruyoshi could see that he was practically vibrating with distress and tension.

"That was when the Kyuubi intervened. I don't think she was taken over, but she definitely went feral. There was strange red chakra all over her body, and it formed a tail and fox ears. Also, her physical appearance changed."

He carefully avoided mentioning his lack of a negative reaction to the change, not sure if he could explain it even if he wished too. Besides, for some reason it felt faintly embarrassing.

"Her wounds healed over like she'd never been hurt, and she attacked the Oto-nin. But this time, it was like she was toying with him almost. Killed him without even breaking a sweat. I managed to calm her down after that."

Again, he deliberately left out the details of the event in question. He'd already cast a henge to hide the burns on his chest and the insides of his arms from the bijuus chakra. He'd take care of those later, on his own, just as he had with burns he'd received from Gaara on missions. No reason for anyone to worry unduly over something so small.

Shrugging and clearing his throat, he finished up his half report, half explanation, still very aware of his baby brothers eyes burning into him accusingly.

"She collapsed right after that. Her wounds seem to have all healed up, and I don't think she's in serious danger, but-"

In the middle of his last sentence, the sign above the operating room doors blinked off, and one wide slab of white swung outwards. The woman who stepped out was none other than the Godaime Hokage herself, her green coat fluttering around her legs as she moved forward and gave the three of them a friendly nod.

"Gaara-san, Kankuro-san, Teruyoshi-san. You'll be glad to know that Hirohito Hyuuga is out of danger. They're all going to be fine."

Gaara stood up and nodded quietly to the Godaime, slinging his gourd over his back in its customary place, his voice soft and calm. Only Kankuro and Teruyoshi heard the slight tension running beneath his tone.

"Thank you very much, Hokage-sama. If you'll excuse me there's a friend I need to see to."

With a bow that somehow managed to be both respectful, elegant, and brief, the red head turned, his long maroon coat flaring dramatically around his legs. Striking up a brisk pace, he left the hall, ghosting around the corner with such ease that had he not moved so quickly, you'd never have known he was hurrying.

* * *

><p>Gaara found team sevens room without much difficulty. Despite the fact that he was no longer the half-mad killing machine he once was, most people still found his stare to be quite intimidating, and a simple iryo-nin apprentice was no different.<p>

When he reached the door, he hesitated even as he laid his hand gently on the handle. Nervous doubt washing through him. While he was fairly confident that Narumi was his friend, her teammates might not see things that way. It was entirely possible they might not want him here.

Shaking himself slightly, he firmly told himself that he was more than a match for them if need be. He hoped anyway. Drawing in a slow breath, he pushed the door open and stepped inside the clean, quiet whiteness of the hospital room.

Two twin beds were in the room, both flanked by machinery and IV drips. In the near bed lay Sasuke Uchiha, his normally alabaster skin even paler than usual, nearly matching the sheets he lay on.

The other bed was occupied by his kunoichi teammate, her tanned skin a sharp contrast to his, golden hair splayed wildly across her pillow, and her expression pained. Between the two beds hovered an anxious looking boy with pink hair that was even messier than usual, and worried jade-green eyes.

The rosette looked up at him in surprise, mouth working silently for a moment before he managed to speak to the silent red-head standing firmly in the door.

"...G-Gaara? What...I mean why...?"

Gaara forced himself not to show embarrassment or nerves. Ignoring the stuttering boy he stepped further into the room and closed the door behind him. Moving across the room, he spoke as if he were only stating a fact, and an obvious one at that.

"I'm here to visit Narumi. I was told that she had returned after successfully completing her mission."

Drawing up a chair on the side of her bed, he sat down and looked her over, stretching his senses outwards. He could feel the residue of heat and power in her coils that he associated with bijuu, telling him that she had indeed drawn on the Kyuubi during the fight.

In contrast, her own chakra was barely there as far as he could sense, trickling slowly through her coils. He could also feel the places on her body where she had been injured from the heavy concentration of traces of bijuu chakra that permeated the skin, muscle, bone, and blood.

Saburo had sat on the edge of the Uchiha's bed, eyeing the intruder into his teams temporary haven with a certain amount of confusion and distrust. When he spoke he kept his voice quiet enough not to disturb the two unconscious teens.

"The iryo-nin checked them both over. They said that Narumi's suffering from severe chakra strain, because she drew on more chakra than she can handle. I don't know what that means, because I've seen ninja run themselves right into chakra exhaustion without ever getting chakra strain."

The rosette shook his head quietly, but Gaara understood almost immediately what the problem was. Chakra strain was a condition that was almost entirely unique to jinchuriki. While all jinchuriki had an enormous amount of chakra to draw on, both their own and that of the bijuu, the human body could only handle so much before it was overloaded.

For born jinchuriki like himself and Narumi, their bodies had developed from the beginning to handle those immense amounts of chakra, and they could hold out for even longer than those jinchuriki who were made so later during life. But even for them, there was a breaking point beyond which they could not go.

Gaara himself had suffered from this particular affliction a few times before, so he wasn't entirely surprised. He also knew that it was even harder on the body when such a condition was brought about when you were already severely wounded. But he was also sure that if that was all that was wrong, Narumi would be fine. She was strong, and no jinchuriki would die from chakra strain of this level.

Relaxing slightly, he looked up at the tired looking rosette, and spoke quietly.

"And the Uchiha?"

The other boy blinked startled green eyes at him, apparently surprised by his inquiry. Gaara didn't see why he was surprised. After all, the Uchiha was not only the reason for the mission that had left Narumi and the other three Konoha-nin so injured, he was also Narumi's comrade. And if there was one thing about the blonde that he'd come to understand, it was that she treasured her village and her comrades above all else.

"Um...they're not sure what's wrong with Sasuke. They said that they'd send Tsunade-sama to have a look at him as soon as they could but..."

Saburo shrugged helplessly, troubled gaze sliding to his deathly still teammate. Gaara merely turned his own silent contemplation back to the blonde on the bed. He couldn't decide if he was glad that Teruyoshi had been the one to follow her or not.

On the one hand, he had almost complete confidence in his eldest brothers skill, and he knew that without his help Narumi could easily have been killed. At the same time, he was equally sure that if he had been the one to go to her aid, he would have been able to prevent her being pushed to this state.

Narrowing his eyes very slightly, he forced those thoughts from his mind. After all, the opponent had been strong enough to force her to draw on her bijuu. And he was sure that Teruyoshi had done everything possible.

After reassuring himself of his brothers efforts, Gaara allowed himself to slip into the quiet, meditative state that he used to strengthen his mental defenses against and control over Shukaku. Across the room from him, Haruno continued to drift anxiously between the beds, casting cautious glances towards the silent red head.

A short while later, the door opened again. Gaara lifted his eyes to see both his brothers entering the room. Teruyoshi was laughing while Kankuro gestured wildly, voice indignant and face a bright enough red that his kabuki paint was nearly invisible.

"...and I'm telling you that's not it! Why would I ever be attracted to a foul-mouthed tomboy like that?"

Saburo looked up, brows snapping together to form a fierce scowl as he hissed warningly at the two rowdy Suna-nin.

"Quit making a racket! Don't you know how to act in a hospital room? Either shut up or get out!"

Both the newcomers pulled up short, staring at the rosette in surprise. Teruyoshi looked startled and a little guilty, a sheepish smile pulling at his mouth. Kankuro, on the other hand, immediately tried to bluster his way through his own embarrassed guilt.

"Yeah? Why don't you make me, pinky?"

The Konoha genin's hands clenched immediately into fists, chakra pulsing warningly around them, its glow deceptively soft. Stalking stiffly towards the other boy, he growled at him, jade eyes sparking dangerously.

"My pleasure, doll-boy."

Narrowing his eyes, Gaara didn't even bother to stand. With a flick of his wrist, sand writhed out of his gourd and sprang up between the two would-be combatants, forcing them apart.

Saburo stumbled back and sat heavily on the Uchiha's bed, swearing under his breath, while Teruyoshi lunged to catch Kankuro before he could fall. Gaara spoke quietly, a slight warning in his gaze as he watched the group of them.

"Enough. This is neither the time or place for foolish posturing."

Before either of the others could answer him, a strong, feminine voice that somehow managed to be both sharp, and amused spoke up.

"Well, at least one of you has some sense."

As his brothers stepped out of the doorway, a tall, buxom woman with ash blonde pigtails and piercing brown eyes entered the room, hands propped on her hips as she surveyed them all.

"Honestly, the both of you ought to be ashamed. Especially you, Haruno. While I'll give you that the shouting wouldn't make for the most restful environment, your chakra spike has done much more to agitate your teammates than any amount of shouting."

Gaara glanced at the two ninja stretched out on the beds, and was surprised to see that the woman was right. Both were twisting beneath their sheets, faces drawn into agitated frowns as they tried to fight their way towards wakefulness.

Shaking her head, the woman circled the three boys in front of the door, and moved up between the beds, laying a hand on each of the injured ninja's foreheads. Her hands momentarily glowed with the gentle, verdant green of healing chakra, and the agitated Konoha-nin slowly relaxed back into calm stillness.

"Really. What both of them need most right now is sleep."

Gaara watched her curiously, realizing that this must be the Godaime-hokage. Dismissing the stammering apologies of both parties, the woman glanced back and forth between the four young shinobi staring at her. When she spoke her voice was brisk and to the point.

"Alright, which of you was with these two during the mission? I understand that the team was forced to split."

Teruyoshi locked his hands behind his back, straightening and lifting his chin as he met the woman's gaze.

"That would be me, ma'am."

The Hokage turned fully to him, eyes cool and measuring.

"Report."

Gaara watched intently as Teruyoshi told the woman all he knew in the same respectful, concise tones he used with Baki-sensei. There was something a bit odd about his brothers demeanor that was bothering him.

The older boys shoulders were tense, and Gaara could tell that he was being careful not to look in the direction of the bed by the window. It was almost like he was nervous or uncomfortable around Narumi. Gaara frowned slightly, confused.

Teruyoshi had always been the one and only person to never show true fear of him, the only person who dared to treat him like the younger brother that he was. At the time, Gaara had always assumed that it meant that he was like Yashamaru, acting like he cared until he had a chance to attack. Now, he was grateful for his brothers patience and support.

But then, why was Teruyoshi uncomfortable now? Yes, he had seen Narumi call on her bijuu, but he had seen Gaara do worse with a similar power and never acted this way with him. Unable to understand why his brother was reacting in such a way, Gaara decided to ask him about it later.

When the blonde Suna-nin was done reporting, the Hokage hummed low in her throat, turning troubled eyes to the Uchiha, and the Uzumaki. Both had been dressed in the loose, dark clothing of hospital patients, all their gear set aside for the duration of their treatment. The only thing that remained was a green crystal pendant around Narumi's neck, and the Hokage looked at that for a long time.

Then she sighed and rubbed the back of her neck, moving to the Uchiha's bedside. Reaching out, she laid one hand on his forehead, and the other on his chest, just below his throat. Both hands glowed as she allowed her eyes to slide closed.

There were several long moments of silence, wherein Saburo hovered anxiously, eyes intent on the Hokage, Gaara watched quietly, and his brothers shifted uneasily in the background. Finally, the Godaime pulled back her hands, and opened her eyes, stepping away from the bed.

Before she could speak, the window behind Gaara was ripped open, and a blur of navy, silver, and forest green shot by him. Alarmed at the speed that he had no time to react to, Gaara instinctively threw up a shield of sand between himself, the sickbeds, and the possible threat.

A sharp, dangerous voice rang out angrily from the other side of the barrier.

"Where are they?"

The Godaime's voice was calm and soothing, slightly dry as she answered smoothly.

"Calm down, Kakashi. They're all safe. Gaara-san, would you mind retracting that wall of yours?"

Blinking uncertainly over at his brothers and Haruno, who had both been caught on this side of his barrier, he saw that both Kankuro and Teruyoshi were equally confused. Saburo, on the other hand, was practically sagging against the frame of the nearest bed in relief.

Considering the reaction of the Konoha genin, and the apparent lack of surprise from the Godaime, he called his sand back. Now he could see a very agitated looking jounin with silver hair and one black eye that swept across the room. The man practically vibrated with tension.

Blinking, Gaara vaguely recognized this man as team sevens jounin-sensei. That was confirmed when Haruno sprang across the room with a hoarse cry and hugged the man tightly around the waist, burying his face in his chest like a lost child rediscovering the safety of their parents presence.

The jounin relaxed, lone visible eye softening slightly as he ruffled the boys hair soothingly. His gaze flickered from the obviously distraught rosette to the two prone figures in the beds, and then slowly turned towards the Hokage, his face stony.

"Tsunade-sama. With all due respect, what in the nine _hells_ have you done to my students?"

Gaara's eyes widened, and he stared at the bristling man. No one in Sunagakure had ever dared to speak to his father like that. Oh, the council might disagree with him, the jounin might occasionally advise against one of his decisions, but that was very different from this.

The Godaime, however, didn't seem at all offended or even surprised by the mans attitude. She just rubbed her temples and drew a deep breath.

"Easy, Hatake. Narumi was my best option for team leader, and you know she'd never have left Haruno behind. And besides, even if I hadn't assigned the two of them, they still would have gone. It's your own damn fault for teaching them to be so stubborn."

Hatake grunted, but he glanced down at the rosette who'd calmed enough to step back from him, and smiled gently.

"Good job, Saburo. You did well."

The boy nodded, face pale and chin stubbornly set.

"Thanks, Sensei."

The jounin looked up at the Hokage, who rolled her eyes gently and then crossed her arms as she spoke.

"Sasuke is our biggest problem at the moment. He's not in immediate danger, but there are traces of a chemical compound that I don't recognize in his system. Also, his curse seal seems to have further developed into a more advanced stage, most likely in reaction to the compound administered to him. I'll have to do more work with him to determine what that means, but at the moment, I'm optimistic."

The woman's eyes flickered from one bed to the next as she spoke quietly to Hatake, her expression a little tired.

"Narumi is currently suffering from something I've never seen before. It's like she used more chakra than she could physically handle, and her body has shut down temporarily to repair the damage. However, I think she'll be fine given the proper rest."

Glancing over towards Teruyoshi, she gave a small smile.

"I think you have this young man to thank for that. He seems to have prevented her from straining herself further..."

Suddenly the Hokage frowned, eyes focusing intently on his brother. Gaara followed her glance, only to find that Teruyoshi was holding himself even more stiffly than before, arms pressed close against his sides as he tried to meet her gaze.

The Hokage stalked across the room and grabbed his wrist, yanking his arm out from his side, and turning the inside of it towards her. Unsnapping the clasps that held the heavy leather cuff around his brothers arm closed, she eased it off, and ignored his protests, sending out a burst of chakra.

"Kai!"

At first Gaara was confused, then horrified. The skin of his brothers arm shimmered, and then seemed to melt away as the henge was dispersed. In it's place was raw red flesh, blistered and burned, stretching over the palm of his hand and the undersides of his fingers, up his wrist and forearm, the side of his upper arm, and beneath his mesh shirt.

An identical burn was visible on the inside of his other arm, and Gaara could see a hint of raw red through the mesh that peeked from the v-neck of his wrap shirt, indicating that the burns stretched across his chest as well.

The Hokage cursed and then shook her head.

"How in the...? Never mind, I think I can guess."

From the way her eyes flickered cautiously to Saburo, and a few comments that Gaara had picked up here and there, he gathered that the Konoha-nin of his and Narumi's age-group didn't know about her status as a jinchuriki. Though everyone else was quite obviously aware.

He wasn't really given time to think about that, as the Hokage ordered Teruyoshi to hold out his arms so she could remove his shirts and remaining cuff. When he tried to protest again, she hushed him instantly, glaring at him until he obeyed.

As she peeled the clothing off of him as gently as possible, Gaara saw Hatake's eye narrow slightly, following the path of the burns with something like suspicion. Then the man spoke up in a lazy drawl that didn't quite match the sharpness in his dark stare.

"How did you say you calmed Narumi down again...?"

Gaara blinked as Teruyoshi turned red, and stammered awkwardly.

"I...that is...I mean she...I just..."

The Hokage, who was already bent over him and moving gently glowing hands over his burns glanced up and raised an eyebrow, while Hatake's face seemed to still and darken slightly.

"I see..."

Gaara looked back and forth between his brother and the two Konoha adults, confused and curious. Before anymore stammering could be done, the door opened again, and Gaara looked up in exasperation. Really, the room was getting rather crowded already.

An old man with an x-shaped scar on his chin, bandages swathed around his head and over one eye, and only one arm stood quietly in the doorway. Both the Hokage and Jounin Hatake tensed, eyes flicking warily up to the old man, who didn't seem to notice their sudden silent hostility.

The man swept his gaze across the room, and the hairs on the back of Gaara's neck prickled uneasily as that cold gaze passed over him. Then the man was fixing his attention back on the Hokage, and for all the tension his arrival had brought, his voice was calm and almost soothing.

"Tsunade-hime. There was a matter I wished to discuss with you, and your assistant did not seem certain of when you would return..."

The Hokage turned her gaze pointedly away from the old man, fixing her attention back on Teruyoshi's burns.

"For good reason. I have patients to attend to. We'll speak later."

The man frowned, then turned a wary gaze towards Gaara and his brothers.

"These must be our...allies."

Tsunade's brown eyes narrowed and she spoke with frosty politeness.

"Danzo, I'll have to ask you to leave now. I have to concentrate, and I'm afraid the iryo-nin will have fits if I bring any more visitors into this room at the moment."

There was a long silence, and then the man inclined his head slightly, backing out of the room, and closing the door softly behind him. Tsunade let out a long breath, and then turned back to Teruyoshi.

"Now, where were we?"

* * *

><p>Delight and satisfaction leapt within him as Danzo left the hospital at a properly dignified pace. The image of the extensive and very distinctive burns that spread across the Suna brat's body danced behind his eyes. Such a golden opportunity that fate had presented to him! With this, with this the jinchuriki would come running to him, flinging her power straight into his hands.<p>

Drawing in a subtle breath, he kept an iron grip over his facial expression as his mouth fought to curl up into a satisfied smile. Oh, if only Hiruzen knew how his own teachings would become the very tool Danzo needed to seize the weapon the dear Sandaime had insisted that the jinchuriki was not.

Turning aside into a darkened alley behind an abandoned shop, he came to a halt and flared his chakra very subtly. It wasn't enough to get the attention of any of the village shinobi, but it was more than strong enough for his purposes.

Nearly instantly, a black clad shinobi with the pale blonde hair and baby blue eyes of the Yamanaka clan was kneeling before him. Examining the ROOT shinobi, Danzo allowed himself yet another moment of satisfaction. This man was clearly related to the Yamanaka's but his facial features were far more rough hewn than theirs.

While all clans kept an eye on their members, illegitimate children were often overlooked and forgotten. Such children provided a perfect pool of willing volunteers for ROOT, personally loyal to Danzo with all the abilities of the major clans, and none of the possible division of loyalties between clan, surface village, and the true interests of Konoha.

This man was his current ROOT bodyguard, a stroke of luck that Danzo silently rejoiced in. When he spoke he kept his voice even and firm, as he always did with his ROOT. However, he couldn't help the spark of triumph that flashed through his eyes.

"Eri. You saw the Suna boy."

The man dropped his head a little further, murmuring his acknowledgment. Danzo's eyes blazed and then settled.

"Excellent. Now, this is what I want you to do..."

* * *

><p><em>Narumi blinked and stared. She was standing atop the river in the valley of the end. She could sense the great stone figures of the Shodaime and Madara Uchiha looming up behind her, and the Oto-nin was standing in front of her. <em>

_She started to tense, but then realized that he wasn't doing anything. Just standing there, staring at her in shock. Slowly, she realized that she could feel the bubbling heat of the Kyuubi's chakra surrounding her, racing through her coils. And that her hand was both wet and warm. _

_Looking down, she found her claws buried deep in the oozing ruin of the Oto-nin's chest. She gagged as the Oto-nin coughed up blood, spraying the thick, dark liquid across her cheek and throat. But her body didn't respond to her. _

_Her hand yanked out of his chest, but not of her own violation. The Oto-nin collapsed on top of the water. Though she knew instinctively that he was dead, he didn't splash through the surface immediately as he should have. _

_Looking down, she tried to cry out, despite her throat refusing to cooperate. The river beneath her wasn't water, but blood. The Oto-nin sank slowly beneath the surface, his grey hair and pale garments slowly staining an ugly red as he was pulled down into the sticky, sluggish currents. _

_Eyes burning, Narumi felt herself turn away from the spot where she'd dropped him. Behind her stood Teruyoshi. He looked worried, concerned about her, and didn't seem to notice the river of blood beneath his feet, the speckles of red that splashed up onto his legs as he walked towards her with outstretched arms. _

_Enfolding her in a hug, he murmured soothingly to her. _

"_It's alright, I'm here. I'll help you."_

_And then suddenly the scent of burning flesh came to her and the blonde boy was screaming in agony. Narumi realized that the violent red chakra around her had transformed into an ugly fire, and though it didn't harm her, Teruyoshi was being burned alive. _

_The Suna-nin let go of her and tried to back away, but her arms came up to seize him tightly, returning his embrace and holding him within the flames. Inside her mind, Narumi screamed and struggled to release him, to push him away. But her body would not obey. _

_Teruyoshi screamed and screamed, begging her to release him, his skin blistering and running like wax. Then it began to blacken and flake away. And through it all Narumi could not wrestle her body into submission. As if her very flesh had transformed into a monster that fought her will. _

_When her arms finally released him, he was already dying. Like the Oto-nin, he collapsed to the thick river, sinking slowly into it. Narumi stared down at the ruined corpse drawing in it's last breaths, horror and fear and self-revulsion fighting within her. She did this. _

_With a last rattling breath, the once-shinobi choked out a last message in a voice ruined by flames and smoke and screaming. _

"_N-Naru...no'...no' y'r faul'...trus' yo-"_

_With a final rattling gasp of pain, he went still and sank away beneath the boiling red-black surface of the river. Narumi tried to scream, to dive after him, to do anything. But her body refused her, simply turning away. _

_She felt numb and the breath dragged into her lungs hurt, stabbing into her like razor blades sculpted of ice. The world around her seemed to blur and smear as boiling tears welled up in her eyes and spilled down her cheeks in hissing trails before steaming away in the heat of the chakra/fire that still writhed across her skin. _

_But perhaps the world really did smear away, because when her vision clears she's standing in the heart of the village. Her stomach twists horribly, plummeting into her toes as her heart leaps into her throat. She half thinks it's trying to choke her to death before she can do any more harm. _

_Sasuke and Saburo are there. Running towards her, calling out to her. Oh right. She's still covered in blood and fire, and smelling like burning flesh and death. Those scents overwhelm her own sense of smell again, and she rips her throat raw trying to scream a warning. _

_But she can do nothing but watch as her own claws tear into her brave, selfless, wonderful teammates, burning them and cutting them to pieces. And just like before as she stands over their bodies while they die, they assure her that it's alright. That they trust her. That they believe in her. _

_She's still trying to scream when the others come. All of them. The rest of the rookie nine, Lee's team, Kakashi-sensei, the Academy kids, Ikyue-sensei, Tsunade-baa-chan and Ero-sennin. Everyone. _

_The scene repeats itself over and over again. Blood and fire everywhere, her precious people all dying at her own hands as the village burns around her. Tears stream down her cheeks even as her jaw stretches open to loose a crazed laugh not her own. _

_Choking on her despair, she screamed. _

Blue eyes flew open to stare at the ceiling as Narumi gasped for air, whimpering quietly. The room was dark and cold, the moon shining distantly through the window to bathe the beds in pale light, leeching the color from the occupants.

Surging into a sitting position, the kunoichi looked around her with wide, wild eyes. Her loose clothing and the blankets around her were soaked with cold sweat, and her hair plastered to her neck, face, and back.

She was shivering violently in the cool night air, but by contrast her cheeks were hot with tears. Her eyes felt heavy and swollen, and her throat was so raw and torn that it hurt even just to breathe.

Staring down at her slightly trembling hands, she nearly cried out in relief that there was no blood and no fire. Vaguely she wondered why she didn't weep, and then realized that she had no tears left. When she drew in a breath, the scents of the hospital flooded her nose, the old blood nearly making her throw up.

Then she realized that another scent lay thickly in the air. Her head whipped around, and she gasped in relief when she saw Sasuke's pale form in the bed beside her, inky hair splayed untidily across the glowing white of the pillow.

Struggling up from the bed, she yanked her legs free of the twisted sheets and stumbled almost mindlessly across the room towards her teammate. Reaching out, she made as if to touch him. But the instant she saw her own fingers stretching out towards him, she threw herself back with a violent shudder, suddenly terrified that her touch would set him aflame.

Suddenly she couldn't stand this place. Trapped in a room that carried the scent of blood, however old, and her teammate lying vulnerable and trusting in front of her. Turning, she scrambled blindly for the window. Forcing it open, she leapt to the windowsill and launched herself out into the night.

Racing blindly across the rooftops, she didn't even notice where she was going. She just continued her headlong rush, desperate to get away. Frantically she wondered if she hadn't better leave the village. After all, she'd hurt it wouldn't she?

Once, she dropped to the ground, unconciously avoiding a patrol leaving the village proper for the outer perimeter of the wall. When she hit the ground, she staggered sideways, shoulder crashing hard into the wall of a building. She struggled for breath, chest heaving as she panted. Before she could collect herself, harsh yellow light struck her face like a blow. Hissing, she tried to curl miserably away from it.

A large, rough hand seized her arm, and dragged her back around. Squinting, she found herself surrounded by a small group of very drunk looking civilians. Laborers. Their leader, a young man with brown hair and eyes, glared down at her.

"Hey, you're the Kyuubi brat!"

His words had a drunken slur to them, and the men around him muttered sullenly. Long experience had her muscles tensing warily, knowing that angry people who connected her with the Kyuubi were never a good thing.

Seizing her by the shoulders, he shook her violently, growling angrily down at her.

"You...you think we don't know? You're gonna kill us all for that damn traitor, aren't ya? Gramps warned us! Why don't you just die, you damn monster?"

Too tired and frightened to make proper sense of his words, Narumi merely registered the hostility and potential danger. With a sound that was half scream and half sob, she ripped herself easily from his grip, and sprang into the air again, hurtling over the roofs.

As she reached the edge of the village, she landed awkwardly on the edge of a roof. Her sweat-slicked foot skidded and slid, and before she knew it she was tumbling headlong towards the ground. Throwing up her arms, she twisted her body and managed to absorb most of the impact with a quick roll as she struck the ground.

Sprawling out on the lush grass, she gasped for breath, squeezing her eyes shut against the remnants of nightmare terror racing through her blood. That particular dream shadowed her own fears of losing control of her demon far, far too closely. What was worse, everyone knew it was going to happen. Hadn't those villagers said something like that?

Kyuubi's healing ability meant that she would have no bruises from the encounter, but the places he'd gripped her felt tender and sore, burning like brands of shame through the clinging wet cloth of her shirt sleeves.

A soothingly soft voice suddenly spoke up from close by.

"Hello, young one."

Alarmed, the blonde kunoichi rolled and wrenched herself to her feet, body tense and ready to run. But the sight that met her was oddly calming. An old man, scarred and weathered by the life of a shinobi, his hand resting lightly atop a cane, a kindly glint in his single visible eye.

Narumi's experiences with the Sandaime had taught her that elderly shinobi of the village could be trusted and relied upon. Caught between flight and a sudden desire to spill all her troubles, she wavered, staring up at him with wide eyes.

"Ah...I..."

The man's brow furrowed slightly, and he took a step towards her, voice concerned.

"Are you alright, child?"

Dropping her chin, she didn't answer. Right now what she really wanted was to talk to Sandaime-jiji, or Ero-sennin, or Kakashi-sensei. But she didn't know where either Sensei or Ero-senin were, and jiji was gone for good.

A moment later, a warm hand was laid on her shoulder. Stiffening, she jerked her head up, staring at the man with wide, haunted eyes. He'd set his cane against the wall to touch her, and she half expected him to convulse and drop to the ground in flames.

When he didn't, her breath rushed out of her all at once in a dry, ragged sob of relief. Looking more concerned than ever, he spoke to her in a gentle voice, turning her towards a stone bench set beneath the trees.

"There, there. Come and sit with me."

Once they'd both settled, the man braced his cane in front of him, folding his hand across the top of it. Turning slightly towards her, he fixed a steady gaze on her, voice soft and coaxing.

"Now, why don't you tell me what's wrong?"

Thinking about how to explain herself, Narumi suddenly flushed. She still felt awful and terrified, but how did she explain that she was running about Konoha in the middle of the night after having escaped from the hospital of all places, because she'd had a bad dream? What sort of kunoichi would that make her sound like?

Looking away, she hunched her shoulders, cheeks pinking slightly as she mumbled.

"I-I had a nightmare..."

The man's voice sounded puzzled.

"I see. It must have been quite bad."

Shifting, she glanced at him.

"Well, it's just that...you see, I..."

Suddenly his expression cleared, and his gaze softened. Though he never smiled or outright shifted his expression, he somehow gave off an air of trustworthiness and reliability.

"I see. You dreamed about the kyuubi?"

Stiffening, she looked up at him, alarm returning along with a wash of fresh adrenaline. Seeing her distress, he shook his head slightly, voice soothing.

"Not to worry, child. I don't hold it against you. Hiruzen was quite fond of you, and if I cannot trust his judgment, what will I trust?"

Blinking in confusion, she cocked her head at him. He chuckled softly, a very slight smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"Ah. Sandaime Hokage. His first name was Hiruzen, and it is what he was called when we were young. I'm afraid I've never lost the habit."

Narumi looked at him for a long minute, and then relaxed completely with a long sigh. Jiji's friend. That meant he was somebody she could trust, someone who would help her.

"Well...yes. Only not. I...I dreamed that I was using the kyuubi's chakra. Only, I wasn't. I was there, and it was my body, but I couldn't...I couldn't...stop myself. I tried but...I was killing everyone...I _hurt _them. My comrades...the village..."

Shuddering, she pulled her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around her legs and burying her face in her knees. A long series of shudders raced down her spine, and she clenched her jaw to hold her distress at bay.

There was a long silence, and then the man spoke in a carefully thoughtful voice.

"...that _is_ quite serious. However, it is just a dream. Surely such a thing could never truly happen?"

Snapping her head up, she opened her mouth to protest hotly.

"Of course no-"

Narumi abruptly cut herself off as she remembered something. Teruyoshi standing over her, wan and tired, burns on his arms and chest, and the sense of Kyuubi's chakra eating into his skin. Paling, she felt her stomach roll. She couldn't say that she wouldn't hurt her comrades, because she already had.

Swallowing hard, she dropped her face back to her knees.

"I...I think I already did..."

There was another silence, and then the man spoke up very softly.

"Well... that is certainly frightening."

Narumi swallowed hard and whispered into the silence around them.

"I don't want to hurt anyone. I just want to protect my comrades."

The man hummed thoughtfully, and when he spoke his voice was hesitant.

"Well...I agree that this transformation you've told me of could be dangerous. The council will most likely want to remove you from the active duty roster."

The blood drained from Narumi's face and she shriveled in on herself. All she wanted, all she'd ever worked for, was to be a great kunoichi, to become Hokage. To be the best warrior in the village, and be able to say with pride that she could protect what was important to her.

The man beside her spoke again, voice even more hesitant than before.

"Of course, if you could control it, that would be different."

Narumi slashed a hand desperately through the air in front of her, body rigid with emotion.

"But that's just it! I _can't_ control it!"

The man shook his head slightly.

"You can't control it now, perhaps. There are people who could help you with that. Ways you could continue to serve the village."

Narumi looked up at him hopefully, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Really?"

The old man nodded.

"You'd have to volunteer of course, but...you see, I am head of a specialized division of ninja known as ROOT. I have ninja there who could help you learn to control the kyuubi. But they're not supposed to work with the bulk of our ninja force. You'd have to join ROOT."

Narumi sucked in a sharp, uncertain breath, eyes widening.

"But...but I couldn't leave team seven!"

The old man looked sympathetic, but his voice was softly questioning.

"I understand your feelings of course, but what if you lose control of the kyuubi again...?"

Narumi froze, her mind flashing back to Sasuke and Saburo bleeding out on the ground while the village burned. Her protests died in her throat. As she stared unseeingly off into the darkness, the man spoke to her soothingly.

"But you needn't worry. I won't ask you to leave your team permanently. It would just be for a little while, until you'd learned to harness the Kyuubi's power."

Narumi looked at him, muscles stiff with tension, voice caught between hope and terror.

"Really? You think I could?"

The man nodded solemnly.

"Yes, with help."

Narumi's mind spun wildly. The old man was right. She needed to get control of this and fast. Who knows what might happen next time she lost control? And he was willing to give her that help. Drawing a trembling breath, she looked up at him with vulnerable eyes.

"You...you promise that I'll still be on team seven?"

The man nodded again, his voice gentle and his eyes serious.

"Of course. Just think of this as going on an extended training journey. You'll be with ROOT ninja during that time, but when you return it will be to your own team."

Wiping furiously at her eyes, Narumi nodded and sniffled. She was exhausted, cold, and sticky. When she spoke, her voice was rough and strained with the exertion of her nightmare and subsequent encounters.

"A-alright. I'll do it."

She never saw the flare of triumph in the old mans eyes. She only heard him stand and speak kindly to her.

"Very well then. Right now you need to get cleaned up, and go to sleep. Where is your home, youngling?"

Numbly she stood and shuffled ahead of him, leading the way silently to her apartment. When they reached it, she groped above the door for her spare key, finding it and and opening the door. The man behind her gave her a slight smile.

"Now, I have to go back to my own home. I'm afraid I lost track of time while researching a jutsu, and I've stayed up far later than I am accustomed to. Take care of yourself, youngling."

After he left, Narumi moved slowly into her room, a stray tear slipping down her cheek. She didn't want to leave team seven, even temporarily. But at the same time, how could she ignore the warning her dream had given her.

Shaking her head, she peeled herself out of her clammy, sweat-soaked hospital garments, and headed for the bathroom. A quick shower, and then bed. Everything would be better in the morning. It had to.

* * *

><p>Danzo entered ROOT headquarters with a distinct sense of triumph. He'd left the jinchuriki at it's place of residence after their little conversation, and now a little praise was in order. Flaring his chakra, he summoned his guard.<p>

When the Yamanaka was kneeling in front of him, Danzo spoke quietly, making sure no hint of his excited state touched his voice. His ROOT were used to him being a steady and unmovable leader, untouched by the unreliability of emotion, and he wouldn't break that image now.

"You did as I asked?"

The shinobi dropped his head a bit lower, his voice soft and even.

"Yes, Danzo-sama. After I was assured she was deeply enough asleep not to wake, I crafted the dream and placed it in her mind, and combined it with her memories of the incident with the Suna-nin. The result was...rather more intense than I had expected."

Danzo nodded, dismissing that last statement. The jinchuriki hadn't been turned into a gibbering wreck, and had practically thrown herself into the ranks of his own personal ninja force, therefore the possible emotional damage was of little import to him.

"The means were effective and the result adequate. That will do."

Eri vanished back into the shadows at the dismissal as Danzo called another two ninja to him. He had the ROOT members on a rotating sleep schedule so that one half of his force was always awake and alert, ready to answer his call. As the two ninja knelt before him, he spoke quietly.

"In the morning, I want someone to take the jinchuriki out to one of the farther training grounds and work with it on meditation techniques. Make sure that no one comes into contact with her until I say otherwise."

As the two faceless shinobi nodded and melted away, Danzo allowed himself a moment to savor the fruition of his plans. Things were falling into place nicely.

* * *

><p>Kakashi stormed up the stairs of the tower, heading for the Hokage's office. Rage boiled through him, tinting his vision red. One chuunin, either very brave or very stupid, stepped into his path and tried to stop him, voice indignant and flustered.<p>

"Jounin Hatake, you can't just push your way in here and demand-"

At the end of his patience, Kakashi caught the man by the throat, his single black eye narrowed to a slit as he hissed in the hapless guards face.

"I'll do whatever I damn well please, and you will get the hell out of my way!"

The man nodded once, eyes wide and terrified. As well he should be. Kakashi worked hard to cultivate the image of a man who was always calm, laid-back, and in control of himself. But today he was in no mood to pander to anyone. He wanted answers, and he wanted them _now._

Casting the chuunin aside, he stalked the rest of the way to the door he wanted, and kicked it open with a loud crash. Tsunade and Jiraya were both inside, and both looked up at him with something akin to shock. He ignored it, slamming the door behind him and prowling forward, his voice an almost animalistic growl low in his throat.

"Where. Is. She?"

The sannin exchanged glances, and Tsunade began to speak, her voice cautious.

"Kakashi-"

The silver-haired jounin overrode her, entire body vibrating with tension, fingers unconsciously twitching towards his weapons holster.

"Why has my student disappeared from the hospital? For that matter, where has she disappeared to? And why the HELL do I have ROOT ninja telling me that she's no longer my concern? What the _fuck_ is going on here?"

Tsunade lifted a hand, eyeing him warily. Kakashi merely glared back at her. Hokage or not, he _would _ get his answers, and then he was going to go get his student and anyone who got in his way could just enjoy their one way trip to the afterlife.

The blonde woman cleared her throat, and spoke again.

"Danzo sent me a message this morning. Apparently, Narumi volunteered to join ROOT last night."

Kakashi's eye shot wide open, and he went very still.

"That's not possible. Not only does Narumi not even now about ROOT's existence, she would never leave team seven. Especially not now."

Tsunade took an agitated swig from a bottle of sake at her elbow.

"Don't you think I know that? Danzo must have done something, but whatever happened, the girl has volunteered. I can mitigate that, even negate it given time, but right now my options are limited."

Right now, all the jounin really wanted was to get his hands on whoever had meddled with his student, because he knew there was foul play involved. But Kakashi restrained himself with an effort of immense willpower, and spoke stiffly, his voice dangerous.

"Limited? What in the nine hells do you mean, limited? You're the hokage for Kami's sake!"

Tsunade looked distressed, waving a hand through the air uncomfortably.

"The political situation is delicate right now. Danzo has some heavy duty support on the council, and both the elders are backing him on this. My position is too new to cancel out that kind of leverage!"

Kakashi stared at her hard, fingers playing with the side of his weapons holster, legs automatically spreading into a deeper, stronger stance. If Pakkun were here, he'd say Kakashi had his hackles up.

"Alright, just tell me where she is. Danzo or whoever, I guarantee they won't be a problem after that."

Jiraya regarded him gravely.

"Easy Kakashi. Tsunade and I have been talking, and we think we have a plan for-"

The sannin was interrupted by the door opening, this time with much more decorum than it had on Kakashi's entrance. Danzo stood calmly in the doorway. Kakashi saw red, his sharingan eye springing open and whirling furiously behind his headband.

All three of the other ninja in the room caught the sudden wave of intense Sakki. Before Kakashi could actually take action, Jiraya stepped forward and caught his shoulder in a bruising grip, though he glared sourly at Danzo as well.

To the old war monger, it probably looked like the sannin was calming Kakashi, reminding him to keep his head. In point of fact, he was restraining the younger shinobi by main force, using a jutsu that paralyzed Kakashi's body, keeping him frozen in his place.

The scarred man walked slowly into the room, speaking calmly.

"Tsunade-hime. You wanted to see me?"

The woman nodded tightly, eyes flashing.

"It's about Narumi Uzumaki."

Danzo stopped, affecting a puzzled look.

"I thought I had already informed you that she volunteered to join the ranks of ROOT. Admittedly, she's a bit old, but I'm willing to work with that."

Kakashi made a noise deep in his throat, wanting to roar at the man, but his jaw remained locked. Tsunade glared at the man, speaking stiffly.

"As I'm sure you are aware Danzo, she might be too old for ROOT, but by the laws of the village she is too young to actually volunteer. She can declare intent, but nothing more. Anbu level and up cannot be attained unless the ninja in question is of age, excepting times of war."

Danzo lifted a shoulder carelessly.

"I am aware, Tsunade-hime. However, if the girl is to ever be fit for ROOT duties, we must begin at once. There is also the fact that she is already chuunin level. Surely that means her own opinions should be given a certain amount of credence?"

Tsunade hissed out a long breath.

"Yes, chuunin status does afford her that right, despite her age. However, her age is still a major factor. As it is, you must have the agreement of her jounin-sensei to authorize her transfer."

When the blonde glanced over at him, Kakashi suddenly found that he could speak again, though he still couldn't move. So he poured all the venom and sakki he could manage into his voice.

"Not a chance in all the nine hells!"

Jiraya's hand tightened slightly on his shoulder, but Kakashi never averted his glare from what had become yet another personal enemy. The other man frowned, and made as if to speak, but Tsunade lifted her hand.

"Yes, I know Danzo. We seem to have two conflicting stances here, so we shall compromise. Jiraya had already spoken to me about taking the girl under his wing as his apprentice, an arrangement that would be very beneficial to the village. So this is what we will do."

Quickly, her gaze flickered over the three men in her office.

"Jiraya will take Narumi with him to train, and Danzo may select one ROOT ninja to accompany them. Narumi is fourteen now. When she comes of age at seventeen, they will return to the village and if she is still so inclined, she may declare her loyalty to ROOT and officially join its ranks. If not, she will return to her duties as a member of team seven under special-jounin Hatake."

Looking from one to another, she lifted a brow and spoke in a terse, flat voice.

"Is this agreeable to all of you?"

Jiraya nodded his assent quickly. Danzo hesitated for a long moment, before inclining his head. Kakashi glared savagely. He could very clearly see that if he did not agree to this arrangement, Danzo would likely get his hands on Narumi. In which case, he was fully prepared to go nuke-nin, and take the girl with him.

However, that would leave Saburo and Sasuke behind in the village, and he had a duty to protect all three of them as their sensei. Which meant that he had no choice but to agree. He didn't have to like it though. So when he spoke, he allowed his opinion to show through, furious rage and killing intent dripping from every line of him and every word he spoke.

"I agree, Tsunade-sama."

He refused to use her title. Hokage was something that he would always associate with Minato-sensei, and Minato-sensei would never have let a scumbag like this manipulate him or the ninja he was supposed to protect. Tsunade flinched slightly, but continued smoothly.

"Then the three of them will leave tomorrow."

Danzo nodded to the three of them, his voice still remote and polite.

"If that is all, I will take my leave of you."

So saying, he left the room, closing the door gently behind him. It was a long moment before Jiraya dared to cautiously draw his hand back and release the jutsu constraining Kakashi's movement. The jounin stood still as a statue for a very moment, never taking his eyes from the door Danzo had just vanished through.

Then, he spun to face Tsunade, eyes blazing. He could feel the sharingan whirling bright crimson behind his hitae-ate, but he didn't stop it as he fixed his baleful stare on the woman who was his leader and commander.

"If you'll excuse me, I have to go explain to my students why their teammate is about to vanish for three years."

Without so much as a nod, he vanished in a swirl of leaves and smoke, letting his chakra lash out sharply as he disappeared and cracking the sake bottle on the desk in half. Before any ANBU guards could react, he was already gone.

Reappearing on a roof a good distance away, he shot towards the memorial stone, intent on ranting to Obito, Rin, and Minato-sensei. Before he buckled down to the unpleasant task of making his other two students aware of the situation, he needed to calm down.

A spar would be best, but he reflected morosely. That is, if he wasn't absolutely sure he'd lose it entirely and kill whoever agreed to fight him.

* * *

><p>Sasuke shot to his feet, fists clenched so tightly that his knuckles turned white and his fingernails bit deeply into his palms, thin trails of blood dribbling from shallow wounds. His eyes were narrow and his voice disbelieving as he spoke sharply to his Sensei, a low roar filling his ears.<p>

"What? What do you mean Narumi's gone?"

Beside him, Saburo was staring up at the tense jounin in stunned shock, apparently not fully comprehending what they'd just been told. Sasuke ignored him. Kakashi spoke again, his voice as flat and even as before, hands shoved deep in his pockets, orange book nowhere in sight.

"She was offered training by Jiraya-sama, and left the village on a training journey. They left this morning."

Sasuke shook his head sharply, practically hissing.

"No. She wouldn't do that! She wouldn't leave the team!"

Beside him Saburo seemed to regain some powers of speech, because he nodded vigorously, voice appalled.

"Especially not without at least _telling_ us!"

Kakashi's carefully blank gaze caught and held their own, his voice never shifting from that odd monotone.

"I'm sorry, but the circumstances were...unique."

Raising his voice slightly, Sasuke took half a step forward.

"Itachi is still out there! It's not safe for her to be out of the village! What if something happens?"

Kakashi's expression became even more stony.

"Jiraya-sama is more than capable of keeping his student safe, and there will be a higher rank ninja traveling with them as well."

Sasuke's sharingan whirled to vibrant life, the bloody crimson shade intensifying his incensed glare to something near unnatural. Gritting his teeth, he snarled at his teacher.

"When will she be back then?"

Kakashi's eyes flashed and his shoulders stiffened, before he replied blankly.

"Three years."

There was a long silence, broken only by a choking sound from Saburo. Then Sasuke spun on his heel and raced for the village gate. Sprinting through the trees, he leapt straight up over the buildings, taking the shortest possible route.

When the great gates came into view, he rocketed straight through them, not bothering to even glance at the chuunin guards stationed there. He distantly heard some shouting, but ignored it. He'd just rounded the first bend in the road, when a heavy weight crashed into his back.

He found himself slammed to the ground and pinned there, struggling wildly against the dusty road. It wasn't more than a moment Saburo's steps came rushing up to him, voice agitated.

"Sasuke!"

An instant later, Kakashi's quiet voice struck him like a blow.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke, but I can't just let you run off like that. The decision's already been made."

Saburo helped him up as the large ninja-hound Kakashi had summoned vanished from his back. The rosette scolded him almost frantically.

"What were you thinking, running off like that? You were only just released from the hospital!"

The distant, logical part of Sasuke's mind told him that Saburo was reacting over-protectively with him because he was still in shock over hearing that they'd suddenly lost their teammate, but that part of him was overwhelmed with suddenly redirected anger as he snarled at the other boy.

"I'm going to bring Narumi back, of course!"

Saburo stared at him for a minute, and then they both rose to their feet, an odd expression flashing across the rosette's face.

"Are you crazy? They're already gone!"

Sasuke stalked forward stiffly to stand nose to nose with his teammate, itching for a fight.

"They don't even have half a days head-start! If we really wanted to, we could catch up easily!"

Saburo's eyes narrowed, and his voice went tight and sharp.

"Yeah? And why should we, anyway? She obviously doesn't care about being on a team with us! She LEFT Sasuke! What the hell do you think _you_ can-"

Sasuke's fist crashed hard into the other boys cheek, knocking him to the ground, and he leaped after him with an angry cry. That same distant part of himself was murmuring that Saburo was only talking like that because he was upset. He didn't mean it. But right now, Sasuke didn't care.

The two of them rolled across the ground, each giving as good as they got, dealing out blows that set ears ringing, and roaring incomprehensibly at each other. This was no shinobi battle, but rather a base barroom brawl. A civilian fight with no grace, skill, or strategy. Just the savage desire to beat each other bloody.

Kakashi's voice snapped out above them, monotone washed away in anger as he seized them by the back of their shirts and dragged them apart, holding them both at arms length as he glared reprovingly at the two of them.

"THAT'S ENOUGH! Both of you, snap out of it and behave like proper Konoha genin, or so help me I'll personally make sure than neither of you either gets past D-rank missions! Ever!"

Sasuke looked away, jaw tight, standing on his tiptoes as Kakashi held them both slightly off the ground. Kakashi suddenly sighed, and sounded tired.

"Look, both of you. Narumi's not leaving the team, she's just...getting some special training."

Sasuke growled slightly, still upset but knowing that if he lashed out again Kakashi-sensei would make him regret it.

"It doesn't make sense! She wouldn't!"

Kakashi set them both down, though he kept a hand twisted in each of their collars. Suddenly, he looked very tired.

"I know Sasuke."

The jounin hesitated, looking back and forth between the two boys.

"Neither of you is to repeat or act on what I'm about to tell you, alright?"

Sasuke frowned, stilling and exchanging an uneasy look with Saburo, anger suddenly dying. His sharingan faded away and both of them looked cautiously up at their captor.

"Of course, Sensei."

Kakashi eyed them for a long moment, and then released them slowly.

"I don't know for sure, but as teammates, you two have the right to know. Narumi volunteered to join a...specialized division of our shinobi forces yesterday morning. And the leader of that group has always wanted a certain power that lies dormant with Narumi."

Sasuke stared up at him sharply, and Saburo burst out with a sudden flood of anxious questions that were totally at odds with his sharply sarcastic carelessness a moment before.

"You think she was kidnapped? And what power are you talking about? A kekkai genkai? Is that why Itachi's organization wants her?"

Kakashi held up a hand and sighed heavily, his eyes tired.

"No, I don't think she was kidnapped. But there are other ways of coercing people aside from brute force. And I may be paranoid, but I find it suspicious that Narumi vanishes from the hospital in the middle of the night, and then turns up the next morning asking to join a group whose existence she should never have heard about."

Sasuke growled softly, eyes distressed.

"But what good does any of that do us? Narumi's gone!"

Kakashi shook his head grimly.

"Not forever. And the whole point of sending her out with Jiraya was to remove her from any...questionable influences. For the time being she's not going to be around, but she's till part of team seven. That will still be true when she comes back."

Sasuke snorted, voice still unhappy. He didn't like this. Three years was an eternity! How could they just split his team up like this? He'd never even gotten to talk to Narumi after she'd brought him back. The last time he'd seen her, she'd been covered in blood and exhausted from battle, and he'd barely been coherent.

Saburo summed up what was racing through his head in a very small voice, looking utterly miserable with a split lip, bruised cheek, and distraught eyes.

"But...but she's our teammate. I didn't even get to say goodbye..."

There was a long silence, during which Sasuke silently added his own sentiment to Saburo's. It wasn't fair. He'd managed to make it back to the village after being abducted by one of the most powerful and insane nuke-nin that Hi no Kuni had ever produced, only to lose a teammate to some unknown force from within the village itself.

Kakashi spoke in a voice that was light and cheerful, and Sasuke nearly snapped at him before he spotted the strain in his teachers visible eye.

"Well, there's nothing we can do now. With the Hokage involved, it's out of our hands. So we might as well go back and train."

After that, a dead silence fell over them. Kakashi-sensei walked at the back of the group, and Sasuke slouched forward, hunching his shoulders miserably. His new black eye was blossoming with color, its presence a slightly sharp pain that was swiftly fading to a pounding ache.

Silently he made himself a promise. Someone had caused this. He didn't know what they'd done, but someone had done something to Narumi that had made her leave. He was going to find them, and make them pay. And then he would find the bouncy blonde, and _drag_ her back to the village if he had too.

A shoulder bumped against his, and he looked up, startled. Saburo was watching his features intently, eyes hard. They looked at each other for a moment, and Sasuke realized that his other teammate knew exactly what he'd been thinking about, and agreed whole-heartedly.

The two boys nodded to each other, mutely sealing the pact between them as they shuffled back into the village to the sound of teasing and laughter from the guards. Kakashi-sensei was right. There was nothing they could do right now.

But that would change.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Hi guys. This chapter was pretty short, but at the time it was a choice between shorter chapter on time, or longer chapter coming in late.

As always, to my wonderful peoples who both reads and reviews!  
><span>To kitsuneluvuh,<span> such intensity! All things in their proper time, I promise.  
><span>To SomeoneInterested,<span> yep, if there's one thing Danzo's not, it's stupid. Part of why he's so detestable in my opinion. I do hope his twistedness lived up to your expectations in this chapter.  
><span>To Zelga Lim Li,<span> you know, now that you mention it, he is kind of mummy-like, isn't he? And definitely a sicko. As to Narumi's back up, I did consider Gaara. Unfortunately, considering the direction I want to take the story, he really wouldn't have worked. I'm afraid he would have dealt with Kimimaro with a lot less trouble, and a bloodless smack down with no guilt factor for Danzo to manipulate Narumi with would sort of screw with the storyline I'm working out.  
><span>To ChaosIdeals,<span> thank you for the compliment. Flattery will get you everywhere (^-^).  
><span>To 10-iz4,<span> thank you for continuing to read and enjoy the story! I hope it continues to entertain.  
><span>To Ceralyn,<span> I'm so very sorry, but I really had to let him get his hands on Narumi. Sort of. Temporarily at least. Don't worry though! I can't write unhappy endings. They depress me.  
><span>To Angelbloodlover,<span> I am impressed. Yep, while it wasn't in my plan, those two are definitely on their way to getting beyond the 'friends' stage. I'm glad to hear you approve!  
><span>To firehottie,<span> I'm glad you like Teruyoshi! He's a lot of fun to write.

Explanations!

First off, the distrust between the Konoha-nin and the support team from Suna. While Narumi may trust them, most of the Konoha shinobi can only see them as traitorous bastards who broke the peace treaty and invaded. And having had the will of fire and desire to protect their comrades dinned into them from a young age, Konoha shinobi are disgusted by anything traitorous. Add to that that the Sandaime died in that attack, and they're not exactly pleased with anything Suna or Oto at the moment.

Second, The hospital room scene. When Kankuro and Saburo nearly get into a fight, it's mostly because Kankuro's embarrassed and Saburo's tired and very on edge. Really, they probably should have been kicked out, but as no nurses were present, it didn't happen. Also, the reason that both Sasuke and Narumi start trying to wake up when Saburo's chakra spikes is because given how they passed out, their instincts are screaming something along the lines of "TEAMMATE IN DANGER" and they're reacting accordingly. However, they need to rest, so Tsunade calms them down and send them back to sleep.

Then there's situation with Teruyoshi! Gaara notices that he's uncomfortable, but what he doesn't understand is the reason. He feels guilty over letting Narumi get hurt, and he's starting to like her. Not that he's fully realized that yet. And of course, immediately after that, a very, very irate Kakashi comes whizzing in and nearly scares the daylights out of Gaara. Mainly because he never paid all that close attention to the other teams sensei. So as far as he knows, there's an angry shinobi flying in the window, and from his own personal experience as a jinchuriki, that's never a good sign.

Kakashi himself is rapidly going into ultra papa bear mode, because as soon as he got back from his mission, the first thing he heard was that his students were in the hospital. Considering the condition he found them in, I thought his reaction was rather mild and restrained. Oh, and his reaction to Teruyoshi's burns? He figured out from the pattern of the burns that 'calming Narumi down' involved some form of an embrace. And being papa bear Kakashi, his first reaction is 'have-to-have-a-**talk**-with-this-kid'. Teruyoshi also realizes from his expression that he knows something, and is immediately reduced to something between embarrassment and alarm.

Just in case it's not utterly clear, Danzo, being the twisted freak that he is, ordered his Yamanaka guard to return to the hospital after dark and thoroughly screw with Narumi's mind. Not only did he create a really horrible dream that was mixed with memory and designed to prey on some of her deepest and darkest fears, he keyed emotional and physical responses in to intensify her reaction to it. All of which led to her being in a particularly vulnerable state of mind when Danzo approached her. And once he classified himself as a friend of Sandaime, she believed him to be trustworthy, which meant he probably could have manipulated her into anything short of utterly betraying the village.

Also, Danzo is very careful to keep her away from anyone who would warn her or help her stabilize, hoping to get her fully and officially assigned to ROOT. He doesn't quite succeed, seeing as Tsunade's decision places Narumi mostly under Jiraya, with only a minor ROOT influence present for about three years. But there is going to be a certain influence, and Danzo is a sneaky enough bastard to exploit that.

The only reason Danzo is not dead in an alley somewhere after daring to screw with Kakashi's student is because, as he himself says, he'd have to go nuke-nin after that. And if he went nuke-nin he'd either have to take his students with him, which he wouldn't because he knows how much better it is for them to be in the village and how much they love the village. Or he'd have to leave them behind, which he'd also never do. So basically, he was caught between an erupting volcano and mid-feeding frenzy shark infested waters. There really wasn't anything he could do, and he knew it. However, you can bet Danzo has a lifelong enemy now. And Kakashi WILL be getting Narumi back, ROOT or no ROOT. Also, he probably did something very horrifically violent to a training ground somewhere.

The reason Kakashi doesn't tell the boys about her leaving until after Narumi is gone is because he knows how upset and angry they'll be. And he's right about how irrational they would be once they got the news. While he tells them that he's sure foul play is involved, he doesn't say who is behind it. Mainly because Sasuke still has avenger tendencies, and Saburo's ridiculously protective, so they'd probably both go out and try to assassinate Danzo then and there. As it is, they're only plotting terrible things for when they do find out who it is. And they are actually plotting, not just grumbling or fantasizing. Danzo has no idea what he's getting himself into with this stunt.

Well, that's it for now. Hope the chapter was enjoyable, despite the brevity. I'm off to start work on the next one now!


	19. Vast Sands

Narumi trudged forward, eyes fixed on the large, smooth, sand-colored cliffs ahead of her. Jiraya had planted himself behind her, firmly in the middle of the line they had formed and not-so-subtly creating a physical barrier between her and Sai, the pretty ROOT kunoichi that had been assigned to accompany the two of them.

Narumi had hoped that the ROOT girl would be able to start helping her right away, the way Danzo had promised. Unfortunately, Jiraya had put a stop to that the first time he caught the two of them working on the meditation techniques that Sai had offered to teach her.

The blonde had been upset when he forced them to stop, but the sannin had been unusually serious when he forbid her to attempt any further training with the ROOT kunoichi. He had insisted that it would only conflict with the training she was supposed to be receiving from him, and that was that.

In fact, ever since they'd left the village, Jiraya had done everything he could to keep the two of them apart. The first night after he'd caught them practicing together, he'd taken Narumi aside and warned her that ROOT was not what she thought it was, insisting that she be careful and wary with the other girl.

Narumi still wasn't sure what she thought of that. She trusted Jiraya, but Danzo had been very kind and helpful to her. And he understood. Jiraya didn't understand, and she wasn't sure she wanted him to. What if he was disgusted with her? Afraid of her? What if he hated her like the villagers did?

Shaking her head, she squinted against the bright heat of the desert sun, and focused on the approaching gates of Sunagakure. Ero-sennin had said that he had a message to deliver for Tsunade-baa-chan before they started off on their travels, and Narumi had been relieved.

Everything was happening so fast, and some of the people she loved best were casting doubt on what she had thought would be the source of her salvation. Right now, she wanted to talk to someone who would understand how she felt and why she was afraid. And the only person she could think of who she was sure would understand was Gaara.

Frowning, Narumi shook her head to clear her thoughts, and called back to Jiraya.

"Hey, Ero-sennin? I thought you said that Sunagakure was at those cliffs? I don't even see gates, much less a village."

Jiraya bopped her lightly over the back of her head, half-heartedly scolding her.

"Don't call me that when we're on official business. It reflects badly on the village. And it's only natural that you can't see Suna. They don't use walls and gates like Konoha does."

Narumi frowned back at him in confusion, turning around to walk backwards so she could face him.

"What do you mean?"

Jiraya shrugged, adjusting the wide strap across his chest that held the large scroll at the small of his back.

"All hidden villages are slightly different, and all have at least some level of natural defense. As you know, in Konoha we rely on the deadly flora and fauna of our forests as our first defense, and the strength of our walls and gates should anyone make it past the forest."

Shrugging, he glanced up at the looming cliffs ahead, the deep shadows they cast on the sand at their feet growing steadily closer.

"Suna is different. Their natural terrain becomes their walls. Those cliffs? They're honey-combed with tunnels, balconies, and watch stations that are constantly patrolled and manned by Suna-nin. The village itself is situated in a valley surrounded by the cliffs, and the only way in or out is through that cleft in the cliff-face."

Here he nodded towards the cliffs, and Narumi turned back to face the front, squinting her eyes and peering forward. Sure enough, she could see a dark slash in the pale stone of the cliff, though she couldn't see through it.

"But Ero-sennin, shouldn't they still have walls? I mean, if an enemy can manage to infiltrate the tunnels you talked about in the cliffs, wouldn't the village be helpless?"

She didn't notice the way Jiraya's brows shot up, or the surprised and approving smile that spread across his face.

"In theory yes, that is a problem. However, the tunnel system inside those cliffs is incredibly complex. Suna has a special division of shinobi specifically trained for patrolling and manning the cliffs. They're the only ones who are truly at ease in there. They say even other Suna-nin can get lost in the cliffs if they don't have a division member with them to guide them out."

Narumi shot him a doubtful glance, before turning an uneasy gaze on the cliffs they had nearly reached. They suddenly looked more menacing than they had a moment ago, reaching up to block the sky without any of the soft foliage or dappled light patterns that she was used to.

"Defenses that can even be dangerous to your own village? I'm not sure I like that..."

The older shinobi shrugged and ruffled her hair absently. She nearly flinched away from his touch, startled by the sudden contact and the memories of her nightmare killing sprees. The sannin didn't seem to notice, just continuing calmly with what he'd been saying.

"Well, technically the forests of Konoha can be dangerous to our own ninja. Our profession isn't a safe one. But I agree with you, the idea is...unsettling."

Sai suddenly spoke up from the back of the group, her tone one of idle speculation.

"It is an efficient deterrent to enemies, is it not? That is the purpose of fortifications."

Narumi frowned uneasily, but didn't get the chance to reply. They were just moving into hearing range of the ninja stationed at the base of the cleft that led into the hidden village, and they couldn't afford to speak so freely of their tentative allies.

As they came up to the cliffs of Sunagakure, Jiraya stepped up beside her to face the chuunin guard who had moved out in front of the cliffs to meet them. The Suna-nin eyed the three of them somewhat warily, but the slight nod he offered Jiraya was perfectly civil.

"Jiraya-sama. The council is expecting you. These are...?"

The white-haired shinobi laid a hand on Narumi's shoulder as he replied, his voice equally polite and distant.

"This is Narumi Uzumaki, my apprentice. The other girl is called Sai."

The chuunin's eyes widened slightly, and sharp grey eyes flickered down to Narumi, who instantly set her shoulders and looked away when she saw the wary suspicion and disgust in the mans gaze.

"The Kyuubi jinchuriki? I'm not sure-"

Jiraya cut him off, voice sharp and precise as a finely honed kunai, hand tightening slightly on Narumi's shoulder.

"I already told you, this is my apprentice. If you'd like to take issue with that, I have no problem returning Tsunade's message and letting her know that Konohagakure's messengers are not as well received in Kaze no Kuni as we'd hoped."

The chuunin blinked, and stiffened slightly, before nodding and backing away.

"I'll let the council know you're here."

Turning, the chuunin hurried back through the long, narrow path cut into thick stone walls that towered above Sunagakure, protecting the majority of the village from both enemy attack and the brunt of passing sandstorms.

His partner moved to the center of the path, blocking their way, while two others made themselves visible from their stations on ledges carved out a good ten feet above their heads. The sannin snorted, turning to address both the young kunoichi, though his eyes stayed on Narumi.

"We'll be spending tonight here at the very least. Maybe tomorrow night as well, depending on the situation. Then we'll get going, okay?"

The blonde kunoichi nodded silently, glancing back at Sai. The other girl offered her an odd, almost plastic looking smile, and turned her eyes to the shadows of the path between the walls. It wasn't long before the chuunin returned, beckoning to the three of them.

"Please follow me. The council will see you now."

Black eyes flickered down to Narumi, and the big man smiled at her.

"See? We'll be done in no time at all."

As the three of them followed the chuunin into the shadows of the walls, Sai moved up beside Narumi, brushing back a strand of shining black hair from her face.

"So this is your first time in Sunagakure, Narumi-chan?"

The blonde blinked, and then offered her a small grin, eyes lighting up a little more as her gaze flashed from side to side.

"Yeah...this is actually the first time I've been to any hidden village besides Konoha..."

Just as she said this, they emerged from the shadows of the cliffs, the bright desert sun revealing the village proper of Sunagakure. Narumi stared, eyes widening and mouth parting in a surprised 'oh'.

Suna wasn't like Konoha at all. Though the ground was hard-packed dirt, webbed with cracks instead of dunes, sand was still everywhere, hovering over the village in a light haze that colored the edges of the sky yellow and thickened the air she breathed.

The buildings were brown, bubble-shaped or cylindrical things with domed roofs and tiny circular windows. They seemed to rise from the ground like growths, the same color as the hard baked earth from which they seemingly sprouted, and truthfully they reminded Narumi most of the nests of the great white ants that dwelled in these arid lands.

Covered walkways connected most of the buildings, creating an odd web of structures that criss-crossed the street. The whole village would probably look like one big growth from above. And the whole place was colorless. Even the shinobi. They all seemed to wear shades of brown, their skin wind-burned and darkened by the sun until they matched their clothing.

The chuunin didn't pause, hurrying towards the center of the village. Narumi and Sai followed after him, Narumi still staring around at the village with wide eyes, both girls quickening their steps to match the mens longer, swifter strides.

As they went, Narumi caught several glances from the people in the street. Some wore the brown uniforms and khaki flak jackets of ninja, while others wore long white robes and head-cloths. All had an air of sharpness, a hard edge, that was noticeably lacking in Konoha.

One of them, an older looking man in uniform, narrowed his eyes when he saw her, gaze flicking over the whisker-like scars on her cheeks and the leaf symbol on her hitae-ate. The way he looked at her, with disgust, fear, and subtle contempt, made stiffen her spine and turn her own eyes to Jiraya's broad back. That man knew what she was. She could feel it.

The Uzumaki girl shuddered, resisting the urge to scrub her hands up and down her arms. She was used to being hated for what she carried. But something about this village made her nervous. She much preferred her own home.

Eventually, they came to a large, spherical building with a large kanji painted on one side. Unlike most of the buildings they'd passed, this one had walkways branching out in all directions, connecting it to every building surrounding it, like it was the nerve center of the entire village.

As the nameless chuunin led them up to it, Sai leaned over and murmured in her ear.

"This must be the Kazekage's Dome. Their version of Hokage Tower."

Narumi nodded absently, craning her neck and leaning her head back to stare up at the curving wall of the building. She nearly walked into the doorframe, quickly redirected by an all-too-elegant white hand on her shoulder, before she looked down and paid attention to where they were going.

They were lead into the dimly lit, rounded halls of the building, and escorted up several flights of stairs before the chuunin turned aside and opened a door, gesturing to the two girls.

"The kunoichi may wait here while you address the council, Jiraya-sama."

The white-haired shinobi nodded, and ushered the two girls into the room.

"I'll be back later."

Narumi glanced back at him uncertainly, and nodded. Sai smiled politely at him, as oddly cheerful as ever.

"We will await your return, Jiraya-sama."

The older shinobi narrowed his eyes slightly at the ROOT kunoichi, murmuring quietly under his breath.

"I'm sure you will."

After a moment, he spun on his heel, and stalked down the hall. The chuunin who had been leading them scrambled to pull the door shut, leaving the two girls alone in the room, listening to the sound of hurried, fading footsteps as the two shinobi moved away.

Narumi turned away from the door, surveying the room they'd been left in curiously. It was simple enough. A couch and two chairs arranged near the center, a small table with a bowl containing a few pieces of fruit, and a calligraphy scroll hanging on one wall.

The large window running along one side of the room signified that this was meant as a waiting room for guests of the village who the Suna-nin weren't worried about vanishing on them. So either they were being underestimated, or they were being trusted.

The dry, desert air shifted slightly, and Narumi frowned, sniffing delicately. A new scent was seeping into the room from the corridor, laden with boredom and the raspy dust-and-shell scent of sand. A guard then.

Scowling, Narumi turned away, rubbing absently at her nose. The air here was so dry and hot that it was almost painful to try and scent anything. She'd found that out to her cost their first day crossing the dunes, when she'd managed to give herself a nosebleed.

Moving across the room to the window, she pulled it open and leaned out slightly, crossing her arms and bracing them on the windowsill. The wind whipped at her bangs and braid, tugging at her clothes and spraying nearly invisible grains of sand across her cheeks as she peered out over the strange village before her.

Her eyes flickered over the buildings, and then past them. She could just catch a glimpse of what had to be the training grounds. Stretches of bare, hard-packed earth, bleached and cracked from the sun, and places that were almost entirely covered in tumbles and outcroppings of stone.

"Ne, Sai? This whole village is brown. Don't they have any color?"

A low chuckle sounded behind her, and the other girl moved up to stand beside her, flat black eyes flicking disinterestedly across the impressive, sand-swept vista before her.

"Well, it is certainly nothing compared to Konohagakure. But perhaps we could admire it another time?"

Blinking uncertainly, Narumi glanced at the other girl. She hadn't meant to say anything bad about the place. After all, she had friends here, and she would never insult their home. After all, this was their village. The place they fought for. Shaking her head to clear her uneasy thoughts, she cocked her head at the other girl.

"Well what else do you wanna do? Just sit around and stare at the walls while we wait for Ero-sennin?"

Sai showed no reaction to the nickname, despite the fact that she herself always addressed the man with utmost politeness and almost exaggerated respect. Instead she merely gestured towards the furniture in the center of the room.

"I was merely suggesting that we might benefit from some training while we wait. I could help you with your meditation techniques."

The Uzumaki's eyes widened slightly, and she froze, transfixed by the calmly smiling girl in front of her. Her mind spun as she realized what the ROOT kunoichi was offering her. The techniques that Jiraya had patently forbid her to learn. Sai knew she wasn't supposed to teach Narumi those, but she was offering to do so while Jiraya was otherwise occupied.

Narumi swallowed hard, wavering. She wanted to learn those meditation techniques badly. If she could learn those, if she could learn what the ROOT ninja could teach her, Danzo had promised that she would be safe to return to her team. Safe to go home to her friends.

But Ero-sennin told her not to, and he wouldn't do that without a reason right? She had promised him she wouldn't train with Sai without his knowledge and permission. Swallowing hard, she tried to think of a way to explain to Sai why she couldn't do that.

While she she was still searching for words to express herself, the door swung open behind them. Half apprehensive, half relieved, Narumi turned around to face the doorway, exclaiming as she did.

"That was fast! Is everything alright, Ero-sen..."

When she caught sight of the person standing in the doorway, she abruptly trailed off. Rather than the large man she had expected to see, there was a slight boy standing there. Tousled red hair, familiar dark-rimmed sea-green eyes, and a large gourd strapped to his back.

"Gaara?"

The boy had been staring at her until now, but when she called his name, he shifted and looked away. Frowning, Narumi took half a step forward, drawing in a long breath. The red-head's scent had lost that frightening metallic taint that had been so prevalent before, and was now laced with copious amounts of anxiety.

As she made to move closer to him, Sai stepped slightly in front of her, one hand resting lightly on her arm as the ROOT kunoichi leaned over to speak softly in her ear.

"Narumi-chan. Perhaps you should be careful? The ichibi jinchuriki is not stable."

Narumi's eyes widened, and she stared at the other girl, mouth dropping open in blank surprise at the veiled jab. Gaara, like she herself, had sharper senses than normal thanks to his tenant, and she knew he'd heard when she saw his shoulders stiffen. When he spoke his voice was clipped.

"Uzumaki-san."

The blonde spared half a second to think that perhaps Jiraya was right about not trusting ROOT. Deliberately grinning as widely as she could, she shook off Sai's hand, dodged the other girl, and bounded across the room to throw her arms around the Suna jinchuriki in an enthusiastic glomp.

"Aw, come on Gaara. My names Narumi. Na-ru-mi! What sort of a friend calls you by your last name?"

The other jinchuriki had stiffened a little more under her sudden touch at first, but now he relaxed. Lifting his hands uncertainly to return the gesture he shot her a look that was equal parts confusion, exasperation, shyness, and affection.

"Narumi then."

Feeling pleased with herself, Narumi's grin widened until her eyes squinted closed, and she loosed a positively fox-like chuckle. Backing up a step, she loosed the boy from her exuberant embrace, and seized his hands in hers, chattering animatedly to him without even glancing back at the other Kunoichi.

"Much better! I was just wondering how I was gonna dig you up! How'd you know we were here?"

Gaara lifted his shoulders in a gesture almost too smooth to be a shrug, eyes glinting warmly back at her despite the deadpan expression he shot her.

"I heard there was a very loud, blonde Konoha-nin in the village. Who else would it have been?"

Narumi snorted indignantly, yelping a protest.

"Hey! That could just as well have been Inori! And I'm not that loud!"

Gaara cocked his head, looking faintly puzzled.

"Who?"

Narumi released one of his hands to wave hers carelessly through the air in an unconcious imitation of Kakashi, voice slightly distracted.

"You know, Inori Yamanaka? Blonde guy, made it to the third exam, hits on everything female?"

Gaara frowned slightly, and then a light seemed to flicker on behind his eyes.

"Ah! Is he the one Teruyoshi-Aniki fought?"

Narumi nodded enthusiastically.

"That's the one!"

Gaara nodded solemnly.

"Yes, I remember now. Aniki calls him 'the pretty boy'."

For a moment, Narumi just stared at him, blankly. Her eye twitched once. Then she slapped her free hand across her mouth, eyes widening as she choked, and her shoulders began to shake violently. Gaara's eyes widened as well, and he reached out to touch her shoulder, looking slightly worried.

"Narumi? What is it? Are you alright?"

Wrapping her other arm around her stomach, Narumi bent over a little, shoulders shaking hard and eyes squinting shut. Soon, it proved too much for her to restrain, and howling peals of bright laughter rang out. Throwing her head back she laughed long and hard, tears of mirth gathering at the corners of her eyes.

"T-thats...just...too...perfect!"

Gaara blinked uncertainly at her as her laughter slowly died away. When she could finally breathe and speak fairly normally again, she wiped her eyes and flashed him a grin. Reaching up and seizing his arm, she tugged him towards the door.

"Well, come on then. Show me this village of yours!"

Gaara followed after her, giving in to the insistent tugging on his arm and looking slightly surprised.

"Are you sure?"

Nodding emphatically, she threw him a look that indicated he'd just asked a question to which the answer was obvious.

"Of course! You've already seen my village right? It's only fair I get to see yours!"

They hadn't yet reached the door when Sai spoke up, face impassive.

"Narumi-chan, we are supposed to wait here for Jiraya-sama. To leave would cause trouble with-"

This time, Gaara was the one who interrupted, his voice smooth and cool.

"It is alright. As long as she is with me, the council will not mind."

Sai's brow furrowed slightly, and she stepped forward.

"It would be remiss of me to allow a teammate to wander alone..."

Narumi shook her head, feeling faintly malicious. She had no real reason to dislike Sai, but she didn't like the way the other girl had talked about Gaara. So when she spoke her voice was filled with false cheer and reassurance.

"No, don't worry about it Sai. I'll be fine with Gaara. Besides, like you said, we're supposed to wait for Ero-sennin. If we're both gone when he gets back, he'll worry."

Before Sai could do more than blink in consternation, Narumi had whipped around the corner, pulling Gaara after her and closing the door firmly behind them. The guard outside the door focused on her immediately, fingers twitching towards his holster. Gaara fixed the man with an even stare and murmured quietly.

"It's alright, Jin-san. I'll keep an eye on her."

The older man didn't seem at all comforted by that. In fact, he looked distinctly grim at the prospect, muddy grey-brown eyes flickering back and forth between the two young ninja. But he nodded stiffly and turned his eyes back to the wall in front of him.

Narumi frowned slightly, confused at the mans attitude. But when Gaara simply turned and strode down the curving hall, she hurried to walk beside him, dismissing the guard from her mind.

"So, where are we going first?"

Gaara appeared thoughtful, glancing out a small window as they passed.

"Well, perhaps the training grounds?"

Narumi lit up excitedly.

"Cool! What are they like?"

Gaara shook his head, eyes warming slightly in amusement as they descended a flight of stairs.

"You'll see."

The kunoichi huffed, puffing out her cheeks and squinting her eyes at the other boy.

"Stingy."

Gaara loosed a low chuckle at the accusation just as they entered the entrance lobby of the dome. Narumi's eyes widened, and she stared at him speechlessly for a moment. Then she beamed, her entire face lighting up in delighted glee at the sound she'd managed to pull from her fellow jinchuriki.

Neither of them bothered to acknowledge the blank stares of shock and hard-eyed suspicion from the other Suna shinobi present. Gaara strode to the door that led outside, and held it open, tossing a glance at Narumi.

"Shall we go?"

Narumi bounced out the door, mouth twisting slightly as a burst of fine sand sprayed across her face. Spitting slightly, she cupped a hand protectively over her nose, shielding it from the stinging grains, and scowled a little.

"Dang Gaara, I don't know how your nose isn't shredded with all this sand..."

The redhead blinked, closing the door behind him and leading her into a covered walkway. Narumi sighed in relief as the light, ever-present sting of the sand lessened, almost not catching the puzzled glance her friend sent her.

"My nose?"

Gesturing vaguely towards the dusty haze around them, she kept the other one cupped over her nose.

"Your nose! I can't hardly smell a thing."

Gaara stopped and eyed her in confusion for a moment. Then his eyes lit up in comprehension.

"You mean..."

Here he faltered for a moment, before continuing a little more quietly.

"...your bijuu? It enhances your senses?"

Narumi blinked, hand dropping slightly in surprise.

"You mean yours doesn't?"

Gaara shrugged, looking both thoughtful and perplexed.

"Well, I'm can feel things with my sand...and I've got really good eyesight."

The Konoha kunoichi lifted a hand to rub the back of her neck in her customary fashion as the two of them walked along the covered pathway.

"Huh. That's weird. Maybe different bijuu have different effects?"

Gaara furrowed his brow slightly, and folded his arms over his chest.

"So, your nose?"

The blonde nodded.

"Yep. Actually, all my senses are pretty good, but my nose is even better than an Inuzuka's!"

Pale eyes flickered over to her, alight with interest.

"Really? And the sand interferes with your sense of smell?"

Nodding again, more vigorously than before, she rubbed her nose again.

"Yeah. I mean, I can still tell where people are and who they are, but...outside I can't hardly tell anything _about_ them."

Gaara cocked his head at her in an inquiring fashion, and somehow conveyed a lifted eyebrow. Shrugging, she tried to find words to explain the odd and almost crippling limitation on her sense of the scents around her.

"Back home, even if I've just met someone, I can tell by their scent if they're angry, or happy, or nervous. I can tell by someones scent if they're more likely to attack or talk, things like that. Even emotional scents. Everyones scent changes depending on those things. But here, there's so much sand scent in the air that it blocks most of those nuances."

Wrinkling her nose, she shook her head slightly.

"Stings too."

Gaara looked quite impressed.

"So you can smell emotions?"

Narumi shrugged.

"Well, not out here. At least not well. But yeah, basically. I thought we all could."

At the mention of 'we', Gaara's shoulders relaxed, and he shrugged casually.

"I guess not. You'll have to tell me more about this some time."

The blonde grinned brightly at him, tapping the back of one hand against the front of his shoulder in a friendly gesture.

"Yeah, sure."

At the end of the walkway was a door into another building. Gaara opened it and they both slipped inside. Narumi took a deep breath of blessedly still, sand-free air and sighed blissfully before looking around. They found themselves inside a long, curving corridor with a stone floor that seemed to run the circumference of the building.

Gaara led her around to another door, and they stepped out onto another covered walkway. For a while they walked in comfortable silence, but soon Narumi began to notice the veiled suspicion and fear in the glances that the residents of Suna were throwing them.

Oh, they were discreet enough. Narumi had suffered much worse at the hands of her own village. But of all the things that had been directed at her, she had never seen such widespread fear directed at her.

"Gaara? What's up with them?"

The fire-haired boy glanced at her in surprise, eyes flickering from her to the heavily robed and veiled people around them.

"That? They...they're afraid of you. Because they know you're like me."

Blinking, she threw him a curious look.

"They know about me?"

Gaara lifted a shoulder in self-conscious half-shrug.

"I didn't tell them. But...there may be a law in Konoha, but there isn't here. Or in any of the other villages. Nin from outside Hi no Kuni know exactly who you are, the same as they do with me. Jinchuriki are kept as close track of as is possible."

Surprised, she shot him a look, before turning away. They'd come quite a ways already, and were approaching the outskirts of the village. Not far off, they could see the wide expanse of a hard-packed plain dotted with jagged outcroppings of rock and swept here and there with small dunes.

"Well. I probably shouldn't be surprised. I'm just...not used to people talking about it openly."

Gaara gave her a long look, and she drew in a long breath, annoyed when she was unable to read what he was feeling or thinking through the heavy dry earth-and-dust scents clouding the air.

"Are you upset? They might not mind as much you know, if you only didn't so...openly...enjoy my company."

Frowning in surprise, she tilted her head back and threw him a serious look. When she spoke, it was slow and serious, and probably would have shocked the daylights out of her teammates had they been there to witness it.

"That's just foolish. You're my friend, and if they don't like that, it's their problem. Besides, just because they can talk about bijuu openly doesn't mean this is anything new. I can certainly handle it."

Gaara stopped in his tracks.

"But...you're not like me and..."

Scowling, Narumi turned, planted her feet, and slapped the other boy gently upside the back of his head.

"Don't be stupid."

The completely flummoxed look her fellow jinchuriki sent her would have made her laugh in any other situation. Now she just glanced away, frowning slightly as images of her comrades corpses flashed through her mind.

"Besides...I don't think we're all that different. Good and bad both."

Still lost in thought, distant and slightly pained, she wandered away from Gaara, staring blankly down at the piles of sand her feet were scuffing through. Once again, a fierce longing for her own homeland rose in her. The solid, dark strength of good, rich earth. The towering trees with their thick trunks and branches. Dappled green and gold light filtering through the softly rustling forest canopy.

The sand and baked earth beneath her feet remained stubbornly bleached and dry, refusing to become one with the colorful strength of the forest her minds eye presented her with. Before she could think much on that, a hand closed firmly around her elbow.

Startled, she looked up as Gaara dragged her forward into the training ground. When the rounded buildings of the village were far enough away, he pulled her around into the shadow of the far side of the rock outcropping and released her, crossing his arms over his chest and frowning slightly at her.

"What's wrong?"

The blonde flinched slightly, hitching one shoulder up almost defensively.

"I...there's nothing..."

Tilting his head and bending a little to the side, Gaara easily brought his face back into her field of view, meeting her gaze evenly. She offered him a weak smile. The Suna-nin snorted.

"Why are you outside your village? The sannin are known for their wandering, and you're traveling with one who identifies you as his apprentice. What's going on?"

Narumi stiffened slightly, and then sighed heavily. She'd wanted to talk to him about this after all. She just hadn't expected it to be quite so soon. Putting her back against the rock, she slid down the outcropping until she was sitting on the ground, wrapping her arms around her legs and dropping her face into her knees.

Grateful for the deep shadow cloaking her, she mumbled halfheartedly.

"It's a long story.

With a slight rustling of clothing, and hissing of sand, Gaara folded himself down next to her. Around them rose walls of sand, arching over their heads and creating a secluded grotto to provide them a bit more privacy.

"I'm listening."

Drawing in a shuddering breath, Narumi allowed her eyes to slide closed, fighting against the memories of blood and fire and burning flesh.

"You...you remember when Oto tried to take Sasuke?"

When the other boy murmured an affirmative, she forced herself to speak again.

"I...this is gonna sound so stupid but I had a...a nightmare."

Letting out her breath in a hiss, she searched for words to explain.

"It was...I was dreaming about being taken over by Kyuubi. At least I think I was. There was all this blood and fire and _everything _was burning. Everyone...was dying. I was _killing_ everyone and I couldn't stop myself."

Her voice caught, breaking slightly as she spoke, and her hands tightened painfully where they gripped her arms.

"I tried, Gaara. I tried so hard...to stop, I mean. But I couldn't, and the village was burning. Just touching people killed them."

There was a long moment of silence. Then Gaara spoke, his voice tentative and soft, obviously unsure quite how to respond to this.

"It was just a dream."

Narumi shook her head, voice strained and distressed.

"But it _wasn't_ Gaara. I did run beserk, and I..."

Curling in a little more on herself, she almost didn't finish her sentence. She wasn't sure even Gaara could forgive such a thing being done to a family member. After all, weren't family precious people?

"...I burned Teruyoshi. I r-remember it. He was only trying to help me and I hurt him. I was so _angry. _He was stopping me and I just wanted to..."

Here her words choked off, and she couldn't bring herself to finish. A long, painful shudder ran through her body, and she bit her lip nearly hard enough to draw blood.

"What if I can't stop next time? What if I kill someone?"

Gaara spoke up firmly, his steady tone steady and sure.

"You won't. You're stronger than that, Narumi. Stronger than I was."

Shaking her head, she whispered against her knees, squeezing her eyes shut against the burning wetness threatening to spill down her cheeks.

"But what if I'm not? Everyone know's I'm going to lose control sometime. I can see it in the way they look at me. I'm afraid, Gaara. I don't want to hurt my comrades. All I ever wanted was to protect the village."

Reaching up with one hand, she tangled her fingers in her bangs, gripping the strands tightly near her scalp and tugging in frustration.

"It...it scared me Gaara. Really badly."

There was a long moment of silence, during which a warm, calloused hand came to rest on her shoulder, squeezing gently in an awkward attempt at comfort.

"Is that why you're traveling with the sannin? Didn't your teammates object?"

Narumi winced slightly, dark hair and green eyes flashing through her mind, followed by the shadowy image of an old, scarred man with a smooth, smooth voice.

"...um...yes and no."

The silence turned questioning, and she sighed heavily, lifting her face just enough to release her bangs and wipe away the moisture at her eyes with the heel of her hand.

"I needed some...time...after that dream. I woke up in the hospital you know. So I went out."

The soft snort from Gaara almost made her smile, but she pressed on determinedly.

"I was really upset, and I made it out to the outskirts before I stopped. And I met this old guy there, someone who knew O-jiji."

Gaara threw her a puzzled look and she swallowed hard.

"Sandaime. Anyway, he was nice to me, and we ended up talking about my dream. I told him I'd already hurt someone and he thought...Danzo said that if the council found out, I'd be removed from the active duty roster."

Gaara's grip suddenly tightened convulsively on her shoulder, his body went stiff, and his voice rigid.

"Danzo?"

Flinching slightly against the pressure of his grip, she glanced up with a tiny frown.

"Yeah, that was the guys name. Gaara? Something wrong?"

Washed out blue eyes suddenly hard and cold, he shook his head slightly, his voice taking on an edge that didn't seem to be directed at her.

"No, don't worry about it. What happened next?"

Still confused, but obliging, Narumi continued, her voice tentative as she watched him curiously.

"He told me that if I could learn to control Kyuubi that things would be different. I wouldn't be a threat anymore. He said that if I joined a division he commanded, ROOT, then I could learn how to not be dangerous."

Shrugging, she drew in a long breath.

"I didn't want to leave my team. But I was a danger to them, so I volunteered. Baa-chan was upset. She told me to wait until I turned seventeen to make up my mind. Ero-sennin took me as an apprentice, and here I am."

A shadow flickered through her eyes.

"Ero-sennin says I shouldn't trust Sai and the rest of ROOT. But I need to learn to control Kyuubi."

As she spoke, she lifted a hand into the air in a helpless, ineffectual wave, trying and failing to describe her feelings. Glancing over, she was caught in Gaara's worried frown.

"Narumi, listen to me. I understand how you feel, but I think Jiraya is right. You shouldn't trust Danzo."

Surprised, Narumi turned fully to face him, frowning and bracing her hands on her ankles.

"What do you mean? I thought you'd be all for me working on getting control of my bijuu?"

Gaara's frown deepened.

"Yes, but...I met Danzo. He came to your hospital room while my brothers and I were present. Something about him...I can't explain it, but I think you should be careful."

Narumi dropped her gaze, reaching up to stroke her braid absently as she thought.

"But Gaara, I really do need to get some control over this. And ROOT are the only ones who can teach me."

The redhead was silent for a moment, thinking deeply. Then he looked up.

"I know some meditation techniques that help me to deal with Shukaku. If you would like, I could teach you those."

The golden-haired kunoichi lit up, beaming at her companion in a relieved fashion.

"Really?"

Pale cheeks tinging a light pink, Gaara looked away in embarrassment and snorted lightly.

"Isn't this what friends do?"

With anyone else the question would have been rhetorical. But this was Gaara. The sand masked the tell-tale hints in his scent that she usually looked for, but Narumi could hear the hesitance and tentative questioning uncertainty in his voice. Leaning over, she gave him a light hug.

"You're a great friend, Gaara."

Gaara leaned a little into the hug, and Narumi leaned her forehead against his hair in an affectionate, almost sisterly gesture. She remembered what it was like before she met Ikyue-sensei. The way she'd craved an affectionate touch, and how blissful she had felt the first time the chuunin teacher brushed her hair for her.

The two of them stayed that way for a bit, before Gaara cleared his throat softly.

"I promised I'd show you the village."

Pulling back, Narumi nodded enthusiastically, lunging to her feet and bouncing forward out of their little sand grotto.

"Right! Let's go!"

Gliding after her at a more regal pace, Gaara withdrew the sand that formed their grotto and led her back towards the village proper. As they went, a sudden thought struck her and she shot a questioning look at her friend.

"By the way, how come your council are the ones taking the message from Tsunade-baa-chan? Doesn't your Kazekage object?"

Gaara blinked, and then frowned slightly. He managed to look both uncomfortable, pleased, and determined.

"Things are...somewhat strange in Suna at the moment."

Frowning, Narumi slowed slightly as they turned and followed the edge of the village, not entering any of the streets but merely skirting along the outside edge of the training grounds.

"What do you mean?"

The red head shrugged his shoulders, resettling his gourd on his back before speaking.

"After we discovered what had happened to the Yondaime Kazekage, there was, of course, a certain amount of disturbance. After things had settled somewhat, the council was convened to choose the next Kazekage."

Now the red-head looked uncomfortable.

"When they came out of their deliberations, they told us that the candidate they had decided on was still too young to assume full responsibilities, but that they would be instated when they came of age."

Sighing slightly he shot her a glance.

"They didn't say who it was, but later on I was called in and informed that I'd been chosen as Godaime."

Narumi froze, stopping in her tracks and staring at her friend.

"You're Kazekage? Are you serious?"

She didn't know wether to be more impressed or envious. The red-head hitched his shoulder, his expression a little odd.

"Technically yes. The council is taking on the role of regency until I come of age. But Narumi, the only reason they chose me was because they wanted to put a leash on me."

The blonde frowned at him, confused.

"That's just silly. If you're Kazekage you're leader of the entire village. The strongest shinobi in Kaze no Kuni. How could that be a leash?"

Gaara looked down.

"Baki-sensei explained it to me. He sits on the council you know. I've become less predictable as well as less immediately dangerous, and it makes them nervous. If they appoint me Kazekage, they have an excuse to keep a ridiculously close eye on me."

Looking distinctly upset now, he dropped his gaze.

"My appointment...it's a joke at the moment. If they declared who they'd chosen right now, the entire village would rise up in protest. They might accept me as a weapon, but never as Kazekage. The council's counting on that, actually. Surround me with SCORPION units now, retain a ridiculous level of power for themselves, and then appoint a 'proper' Kazekage later when the village objects to me."

Snorting almost bitterly, he narrowed his eyes.

"They'd probably be able to get a puppet into office easily enough considering how good they'd look compared to me. No one would object as long as I was prevented from taking office."

Alarmed and concerned, Narumi struggled to find words to comfort her friend. She'd never once felt like anyone was trying to leash her before. She supposed O-jiji and Baa-chan had protected her from that. Gaara suddenly lifted his eyes and fixed her with a small, fierce, determined smile.

"I'm going to change that though. I'm going to prove my loyalty, and protect the village with everything I have. By the time they announce me, I'll have proved myself. And then I'll be the best Kazekage Sunagakure has ever seen!"

Blinking, Narumi cocked her head and looked at him intently. Then she flashed him a vulpine grin.

"I know you will. You're gonna be a great Kazekage!"

Snatching his hand, she laughed and bounded forward.

"Now, come on and show me this village of yours, oh great Kazekage-sama!"

* * *

><p>Three hours later, after Gaara had shown her every major feature from the Academy to the great stone statues of the Kazekages past (which she had been duly awed by), the two of them walked down a street in the quickly darkening dusk.<p>

Narumi's stomach grumbled, and she rubbed her abdomen, making a slight face.

"Man, do I miss Ichiraku's right now. What I wouldn't give for a nice bowl of Miso ramen!"

Gaara shot her an amused glance.

"I don't know about ramen, but there's an excellent curry stand nearby."

Whooping Narumi pumped a fist in the air. It wasn't ramen, but food was food, and she was hungry.

"Alright! Lead the way!"

Shaking his head slightly, the red-head turned down a side street and led her to a small restaurant that bore a slight resemblance to Ichiraku. Instead of standing open, rice-paper doors kept out the sand. When Gaara slid the doors open, she peered over his shoulder to find low, traditional tables with flat cushions for seating arranged on tatami mats, and staff in simple kimono and aprons.

As the two of them moved into the restaurant and slid the door closed behind them, she drew in a deep breath. Clean air laden with deliciously savory aromas slid over her, and she nearly melted. With a deep sigh, she let her eyes slide half-closed in pleasure, and drifted dreamily after Gaara.

One of the waitresses noticed them, paled, and retreated swiftly into the back of the shop. Narumi frowned in confusion, noticing that no one else approached them. Gaara didn't seem to mind, merely crossing his arms patiently.

A moment later, an elegant woman, her chestnut hair streaked with soft silver at the temples and swept back into a heavy roll at the base of her head, glided out to speak to them. Her kimono was much finer than the others, and from her almost regal demeanor, Narumi assumed she was the shop owner. When the woman reached them, she inclined her head, her voice calm and polite.

"Gaara-sama. A table, perhaps, for you and your guest?"

The redhead nodded back, equally grave and polite.

"That would be very welcome, Yamada-san."

Inclining her head, the woman turned and led them to a table in the back corner of the restaurant. It was somewhat removed from the other patrons and allowed both Narumi and Gaara to put their backs to the wall while keeping an eye on the rest of the restaurant, while at the same time helping to keep them out of sight of the other patrons.

Narumi might not have been used to the overt dread and fear these people showed Gaara, but as a jinchuriki herself, she could easily see that this arrangement was designed to provide the most comfort for both them and the other patrons.

Settling on a cushion with her back to the wall, she looked around as Gaara took a seat at right angles to her. The woman, Yamada-san, clasped her hands gracefully in front of her.

"Is there anything I can get you?"

Narumi blinked, surprised. She had been sure this was the shop owner, but why would a woman like that lower herself to taking their orders. She'd seen such happen in Konoha a few times, but that was when the patron was someone very highly honored indeed, like O-jiji. Not when the demon brat came to call.

Gaara, however, took it in stride.

"Green tea for me, and an order of katsu curry."

When the other jinchuriki's eyes flicked to her, Narumi thought for a moment before speaking. She didn't often eat curry in Konoha. Those tended to be the more upstanding shops that didn't like to serve her, so this was a rare treat in her book.

"Melon soda, and...beef curry please."

Yamada-san bowed slightly, before turning and gliding away into the back of the shop. Slowly, the soft murmur of voices and the scuffing of tabi-clad feet moving over tatami returned to the shop, and Narumi was able to relax slightly, turning bright eyes on her companion.

"Whoa. Is it always like this?"

The boy shrugged, apparently unconcerned.

"To an extent. They are still worried that I will become volatile again."

Narumi snorted softly, and propped her chin in her hand.

"Well that's just silly."

Ignoring the wry look she got in return for that comment, she looked around curiously.

"I haven't had curry in ages. How do you serve it in Kaze?"

Cocking his head slightly, he frowned.

"I believe it is less spicy than some of the variations more popular in Hi no Kuni. Spicy food is less common here, as we prefer not to use an over-abundunce of fluids quenching the taste of our meals."

Narumi threw back her head and loosed a short, bright laugh, flashing that vulpine grin again.

"Ah, don't be like that! A little spice in the food puts fire in the belly. Back home, Rock Lee, the guy you fought? He has this stuff that he loves called 'the curry of life'. That stuffs hotter than a young volcano in a mood."

Whistling slightly at the memory, she shook her head in admiration. Gai-sensei had brought Lee a pot of the stuff when he was hospitalized, before Narumi had left to find Baa-chan. She and his team had been visiting, and he'd insisted on 'youthfully' sharing the stuff. She'd thought her tongue was frying, but she'd loved it.

Gaara shook his head as well, though his tone was very dry and tolerant.

"Leaves. Mad, the lot of you are all mad."

Chuckling at the accusation, she stuck her tongue out slightly at him.

"Jealous much, sand boy?"

Before he could reply, a brazen voice called out to them just as a familiar spicy-warm scent caught Narumi's attention.

"Gaara? And Narumi? What are you guys doing here?"

Looking up, the golden-haired kunoichi found herself looking right into the striking green eyes of Teruyoshi. Blinking, a twinge of guilt raced through her before she suppressed it. The older boy was staring down at them, a faint pink tinge spreading across his cheeks and his eyes wide in surprise.

Gaara frowned slightly up at his somewhat out of breath brother, and Narumi blushed self-consciously when she realized that he hadn't once looked away from her. Suddenly feeling incredibly embarrassed, she dropped her gaze to the table, frantically wondered if something was stuck in her braid or if she had something on her face.

The redhead spoke up, still frowning in confusion as he eyed his apparently transfixed brother, and suddenly shy friend.

"We are having dinner. What else would we be doing in a restaurant at this time of day, Aniki?"

Jumping slightly, the older shinobi reached up to scratch the back of his head, looking anywhere but at the two jinchuriki as he mumbled furiously.

"Right, right. Stupid question."

Sighing softly, exasperated with his brothers odd behavior, Gaara gestured towards the cushion opposite the small, square table from Narumi.

"Are you going to join us, Aniki?"

Still not looking at the suddenly withdrawn kunoichi, the dirty-blonde boy muttered something that sounded vaguely like assent as he dropped onto the cushion. There was a moment of silence before Teruyoshi cleared his throat and turned his gaze back to the kunoichi across the table, looking oddly determined.

"So, when'd you get in Beautiful?"

Shifting a little, the kunoichi lifted a hand to stroke her braid in a repetitive, soothing motion.

"A few hours ago."

Gaara watched curiously as his elder brother forced himself to relax, leaning back and whistling slightly.

"A few hours? What have you been doing all that time that you're not with the other leaves?"

Narumi shrugged, still looking vaguely uncomfortable, but mastering herself as she met his eyes.

"Gaara's been showing me around. I've never been to another hidden village before."

Teruyoshi lifted an eyebrow, voice turning teasing.

"What's this? A sheltered flower of a kunoichi who's never traveled before? You surprise me Beautiful!"

Indignant blue eyes snapped up to meet dark green irately, the shade of them shifting until it exactly matched the hot, vibrant blue found in the heart of a flame.

"I am _not _a flower! And anyway, I bet you hadn't been to other villages either until you came to Konoha!"

A grin broke out on Teruyoshi's face as he flinched exaggeratedly.

"Ouch. Still as much a spitfire as ever, I see."

Putting on an aggrieved tone, he tapped two fingers on his chest, just over his heart.

"Your lack of faith in me wounds, Beautiful. Right here."

Narumi scowled, and Gaara fixed his brother with a blank gaze, voice totally deadpan.

"May I point out that she is correct?"

Teruyoshi shot him an exasperated look as Narumi grinned triumphantly.

"Whose side are you on anyway little brother?"

Gaara was saved from having to answer when Yamada-san returned to the table in the company of a timid looking waitress bearing a tray with their food.

"Teruyoshi-sama. I was not aware you would be joining Gaara-sama for dinner as well. Is there anything you would like?"

The oldest of the three ninja waved a hand casually threw the air, apparently relaxed by the banter the three had just been engaging in.

"Nah, I'm fine."

Gaara frowned, cocking his head slightly and eyeing the dirty-blonde.

"Aniki? Are you not hungry?"

Teruyoshi shot him a confused look.

"Huh?"

Gaara's brow furrowed tightly as the maid placed the food and drink she was carrying in front of him and Narumi.

"You came to the restaurant to eat, didn't you?"

There was a moment of confused silence between them, before Teruyoshi suddenly flushed again, eyes darting inadvertently towards Narumi, who was regarding them both with curious eyes, her head slightly cocked to the side as she observed the interaction.

Gaara was just about to ask what was wrong when Yamada-san interfered, a warm glint in her eye and a slight softness to her voice.

"Perhaps you are thirsty rather than hungry, Teruyoshi-sama?"

Nodding fervently, Teruyoshi turned relieved eyes on the elegant older woman.

"Right, right. I was thirsty. Um...can I get a cold tea?"

Yamada-san offered him a slight bow, before retreating with the waitress. There was a moment of uncomfortable silence at the table before Narumi shrugged and clapped her hands together cheerfully.

"Itadakimasu!"

The tension broken, the three of them settled down to eat. Narumi chattered brightly throughout the meal, occasionally scowling and bantering with a smirking Teruyoshi as she savored the curry. Gaara himself relaxed back, settling in and allowing himself to be drawn into the flow of conversation, making quiet replies and comments here and there, and enjoying the feeling of being completely and totally accepted by the company he kept.

Several times throughout the meal, he noticed one or the other of his companions become flushed or awkward, though he could never understand quite what triggered it. This happened more often with Teruyoshi than with Narumi, though she often picked up on it from him, and became withdrawn in turn, stroking her braid nervously.

Around that time, if he didn't interject something to return things to normal, Yamada-san would return to smoothly inquire if they needed anything else, or to engage one of them in polite small talk. By the end of the meal, Gaara thought she'd grown quite fond of Narumi by the way her tone softened when she spoke to the young kunoichi.

When they finished eating, Narumi yawned, covering her mouth and blinking sleepily at the two of them.

"Sorry, I guess I'm a little more tired than I thought."

Gaara nodded.

"You have travelled quite a long way. Perhaps it would be best if you returned to the guest quarters for the night?"

Narumi hummed her agreement before an expression of consternation crossed her face.

"Oh. I don't know where they are..."

Before Gaara could say anything, Teruyoshi spoke up hurriedly, almost eagerly.

"I'll walk you."

Then his face flushed, even brighter than before, and he sat back a little, mumbling slightly.

"I mean...that is, if you want to."

Narumi stared, and then looked away, a line of pink spreading across her nose and cheekbones as she lifted a hand to stroke her braid.

"Yeah...thanks."

There was another moment of silence, wherein Gaara looked back and forth between the two of them in utter confusion. While he was still trying to figure out exactly what was going on, Narumi cleared her throat and laid a few coins on the table beside her plate.

"Um...I think I'll just head outside. Get some air."

If Gaara had had eyebrows, they'd have vanished into his hairline at that. He knew very well from Narumi herself that she found the outside air of Kaze no Kuni frustrating to deal with.

Not noticing the look he was giving her, Narumi stood, lifting her arms over her head, arching her back, and stretching with the smooth, sleepy grace of a cat. Gaara watched in confused disbelief as Teruyoshi reddened further, eyes following the oblivious kunoichi as she walked through the restaurant and out the sliding paper doors.

There was a moment of silence between them, with Teruyoshi watching the door and Gaara watching Teruyoshi. Then Yamada-san glided up, knelt quietly beside his elder brother, and murmured so softly that only the two boys could hear her, her eyes sparkling with what looked like amusement.

"Congratulations, Teruyoshi-sama."

Teruyoshi jumped, looking suddenly mortified. Leaping to his feet, he muttered something under his breath, dropped the money for his tea on the table, and all but bolted for the door. Yamada-san lifted a hand and chuckled softly into the sleeve of her kimono, and Gaara stared after his brother, mouth slightly open, eyes wide, and mind spinning as he tried to figure out exactly what had just happened.

* * *

><p>Sasuke slumped wearily across the table, cheek pressed against the cool surface of the aged wood as he stared blankly at the wall. His entire body ached, and his chakra coils felt like they'd been threaded with red-hot steel wires.<p>

Damp strands of black hair clung to the nape of his neck and flopped wetly across his face. A cool breeze fluttered in through the open window, caressing the bare skin of his back and tugging at his white shorts, temporarily relieving the oppressive heat of the unusually warm day as he sat shirtless and freshly showered in the kitchen.

Down the hall, he heard the heavy shambling steps of his roommate. Groggily, he lifted his head, and turned so that he was looking at the doorway into the hall. Not long after, Saburo staggered into view. The Uchiha winced at the exhaustion etched into his teammates face.

"You look awful."

The rosette shot him a half-heartedly dirty look.

"Thanks, Sasuke. Cause you just look like a dewy rose on a summer morning."

It took all the strength of his famed Uchiha pride, but the raven-haired boy managed to draw himself up and regard his friend cooly.

"I am an Uchiha. As such, I could never allow myself to fall so far as to be driven into such a state by a woman."

For a moment, the two boys stared at each other. Then Saburo dragged himself over, and brought a fist crashing down on the top of the Uchiha heirs head. Hissing in pain, Sasuke clutched the top of his head and dropped his forehead to the table in front of him. As Saburo hobbled away, he muttered under his breath.

"You know, I'm really starting to understand why Narumi-chan uses Teme for you. And I'd like you to say that to Shishou's face. Or even Mitsurashi-san's for that matter."

Sasuke tilted his face to glare at the rosette from one eye.

"I liked you better before."

Ignoring him, Saburo made his way to the refrigerator and opened it. Sighing at the blast of cool air, he leaned against the door for a moment before shaking his head and staring contemplatively into the depths of the appliance.

Rousing himself, Sasuke braced his hands on the table and rose slightly, glaring suspiciously at the back of his teammates sweat-soaked shirt.

"Saburo? What are you doing?"

Absently the other boy tossed the answer over his shoulder.

"Oh, I just thought I'd make some dinner."

Ebony eyes shot wide open in alarm, and Sasuke shoved himself away from the table, twisting around as he did. His legs refused to move exactly as he wished them too, protesting loudly and tangling with each other, sending him clattering to the floor along with his chair.

Saburo had whirled at the loud crash, and instantly moved over to the dazed looking Uchiha on the floor.

"Sasuke? Are you alright?"

Seizing his opportunity, the other boy levered himself off the floor and snatched Saburo's shoulder, voice deadly serious.

"Anything but that!"

Saburo blinked slowly, confusion spreading through his expression.

"Wha-?"

Hauling himself up, Sasuke fixed the other boy with a steady, grave stare.

"Please, don't cook. I'll do it, alright?"

Understanding dawned and the Haruno scowled at the darker boy indignantly.

"Hey! Sasuke!"

A lazy voice spoke up from near the window, and both young shinobi looked up to see their sensei leaning against the windowsill, peering at the two of them over the top of his orange book.

"Maa maa, what's all this?"

By now, the two of them were used to the eccentric jounin popping up at odd times throughout the house, and neither bothered to react to his sudden appearance. Instead, the rosette's scowl deepened, and he crossed his arms mutinously over his chest.

"Sasuke won't let me fix dinner."

The single visible eye blinked at the two of them in slow surprise.

"Sasuke? While that's excellent practice for dealing with your first lady friend..."

Reddening slightly, Sasuke dialed up his glare.

"What dinner? He can't cook! He tried the first week he was here and it was awful! I couldn't even tell what it was! Burned _and_ soggy! How is that even possible?"

Kakashi looked distinctly amused as he glanced between the equally stubborn boys.

"Come now, Sasuke, it can't be all that bad."

Sasuke's expression turned nearly comically indignant, and his voice rose slightly in pitch.

"Not that bad? He tried to boil water for tea last night, and almost set the kitchen on fire!"

Stifling laughter, Kakashi cleared his throat.

"Surely that's a bit exaggerated?"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, his lips compressing into a thin line as he mutely pointed up. The jounin's eye flicked after his finger curiously, and then he stared. Around the upper walls and the edges of the ceiling were very distinct scorch marks.

There was a long silence, and then Kakashi cleared his throat, tucking his book away into his weapons pouch.

"...right. Well then, how about I fix you boys something?"

Saburo still looked a little put out, but he nodded his acquiescence after a minute.

"Thanks Kakashi-sensei."

Sasuke eyed him suspiciously for a minute, but then nodded sharply, mumbling his thanks before righting his chair and collapsing back across the table. Saburo hesitated a moment, before Kakashi made a gentle shooing motion with his hand, eye curving up in a warm smile.

"Go ahead and shower Saburo. I'll have Sasuke come get you when the food is ready."

The green-eyed boy nodded quietly, offering his sensei a grateful smile before stumbling out into the hall and vanishing in the direction of the bathroom. For a long time, there was silence in the kitchen aside from the sounds of Kakashi moving about and preparing food.

Sasuke shifted so that his chin was on the table and he was staring out the window.

"Sensei?"

Kakashi glanced up in the direction of the student that was the most similar to how he used to be, noting the distant look in his eyes.

"Hm?"

The boy frowned for a moment, pale brow wrinkling as he folded his arms on the table and rested his chin on them.

"Do you think Narumi's alright?"

The jounin stopped for a moment, devoting his full attention to the boy. Sasuke hadn't spoken of his blonde rival since he'd first found out she'd left the village. The Uchiha had also exhibited a surprising amount of hostility towards Danzo since he'd found out about the man, though thankfully only when he was alone with Kakashi and Saburo.

Keeping all this in mind, Kakashi chose his words carefully, trying hard to think about what Minato-sensei might say in this situation.

"Yes, I think she'll be fine. Jiraya-sama is with her after all. He's rather fond of her, you know."

Nodding slightly, Kakashi turned his attention to the pan of vegetables he was stir-frying.

"I don't think you need to worry about her."

Sasuke blew hard at a strand of hair hanging across his face, frowning hard at the view of the darkening village.

"It's not fair. She should be here, with us."

Kakashi sighed quietly, feeling troubled. He had heard from Tsunade some of the reason why Narumi had been so eager to get out of the village. While he was sure they didn't know the whole of it, it was obvious that Danzo had manipulated the girls fears regarding the kyuubi.

On the one hand, Kakashi was immensely proud of his student for being so determined to protect the village. On the other, he really wanted to rip Danzo's worthless throat out and leave the man writhing on the floor.

Allowing his eye to slide closed for a moment, he addressed a mental comment to his deceased sensei, half wondering if his words actually reached the man, and if they did how he felt about a student who had failed to protect his daughter so many times over.

'_What would you think of us, Minato-sensei? You died for this village and this is the way your daughter is treated...'_

Shaking his head slightly, he offered Sasuke a small smile.

"She had her reasons, Sasuke. The...power...that these people want from her is very dangerous in the wrong hands."

The Uchiha's head shot up and swiveled, a suddenly crimson gaze fixing intently on Kakashi.

"You know something you're not telling us, don't you? Something about that 'power' that you said this person who made her leave wants."

Kakashi met the boys gaze, inwardly cursing the sharpness of geniuses. After a moment, he lifted a hand to rub the back of his neck.

"Maa, I do know some of it."

The dark boy made as if to stand, eyes widening slightly, voice half imploring, half demanding.

"Why? What is it? What's going on?"

Kakashi did sigh this time, frustrated at his own inability to help his students.

'_Being a sensei was supposed to be easier than this. Isn't the sensei supposed to be the one who has all the answers and never feels helpless?'_

The mental cry went unanswered, and he had to take a moment to master his tone of voice.

"I can't tell you, Sasuke."

When the boys sharingan started to whirl faster, Kakashi hurried to placate him.

"It's not that I don't want too, but if I were to do so, I'd be in direct violation of one of the laws of Konohagakure. Perhaps when you're older you'll find out, but when you do it will likely be from the Hokage or Narumi herself. I can't say anything."

Sasuke's eyes had widened slightly, fading back from bloody scarlet to soft ebony as he stared at the silver-haired jounin in consternation.

"Sensei?"

Kakashi shook his head slightly and turned back to the stove.

"Don't worry, Sasuke. Jiraya-sama will take care of Narumi. You and Saburo just worry about your training. After all, you don't want her to come back stronger than you, do you?"

There was silence except for the faint hissing sounds of the vegetables and soy-sauce in the pan, before Sasuke spoke up, voice even and deceptively calm.

"I understand, Sensei."

The two of them continued in silence until Saburo returned, looking much better for the cleanliness, if still overly tired. Kakashi fixed three plates of food, setting them quietly at the table and joining his students. Neither boy remarked on his presence, though he did catch them exchanging a glance.

Deciding to break the tension, he offered Saburo a smile, voice cheerful and relaxed as ever.

"So, Saburo-kun. How's your training with Tsunade-sama going?"

The rosette shrugged, swallowing a bite of food, and clearing his throat before answering.

"Brutal. Shishou's definitely gonna kill me before winter."

Kakashi's eye crinkled up with restrained amusement at the description. That certainly sounded like the monstrously strong medic he remembered.

"Oh? Have you learned anything then?"

Saburo nodded ruefully.

"Someone told her about that weird attack I was able to use in the chuunin exams, and she had me do it again. Once she figured it out she got all excited over it. Said that I'm..."

Here he paused and a look of great concentration crossed his face.

"That I'm sending my chakra into the opponent and somehow causing it to implode, which crushes the muscles and bones, ruptures the blood vessels, and damages the chakra coils to a certain extent."

Kakashi stared, and there was a moment of stunned silence at the table. The boys probably didn't understand just how unusual and devastating an attack what Saburo had just described would be.

Apparently unaware of Kakashi's incredulity, Saburo shrugged and took another bite, before continuing.

"She said it's crude, but similar to chakra scalpel attacks, so now she's got me training to be an iryo-nin on top of everything else."

Kakashi watched the two boys digging into their food with the urgent eagerness that only boys who trained very hard could manage, and shook his head slightly. He'd expected a certain level of preformance from Narumi as the daughter of his sensei, and from Sasuke as an Uchiha prodigy.

But apparently, Saburo wasn't going to settle for being the normal shinobi on the team. This team was on its way to being ridiculously powerful. Pretending not to notice the sidelong glances the boys were throwing him, trying to get a look at his unveiled face when he ate, he allowed himself a wash of pride.

His students were growing up quite well. Now if he could just manage to keep both the boys alive for the next few years, and pull them all back together at the end of it, he might just be able to face his own team with pride when the time came.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Oh, wow. It really has been forever since I updated, and I am so, so sorry for that. I am very ashamed of myself. I can't really explain it. You know that saying 'the shit hit the fan'? Well, this was more just like life hit the fan, splattered all over the walls, and then laughed at me. Nothing particularly bad, but things kind of got away from me. I most sincerely apologize to everyone.

**To** **10-iz4, **hope you enjoyed this chapter. Romance will continue to be a lower-key element in the story, but it will be present.  
><strong>To kitsunehluvuh, <strong>Jiraya's certainly going to do his best. As will Gaara and his brothers, all of whom are quite suspicious of 'the old coot'.  
><strong>To jayley, <strong>Normally, a candidate for root would be a young child who would have undergone significant testing before being hand-selected by Danzo for the program. The standard procedure has been disregarded here however, because Danzo gets the final word in all things ROOT, and he wants a supped-up fox weapon. Also, in this fiction ROOT is not unsanctioned. There was an attempt by the fourth to disband it, but he was working on that shortly before his death, and very few people know of it. Sarutobi was quite lax in dealing with them because Danzo was an old teammate, so by this time, ROOT is too extensive to be easily done away with. Also, efforts to get rid of them are not as extensive as they could be because most people who know about them at all still assume that ROOT is basically loyal to the Hokage, and have no idea what sort of methods are used in their training and the execution of their missions. As it is, they're barely tolerated, but they have a lot of power and a lot of secrets. Also, as you can see, there will be some chapters covering the in-between time, though time skips will occur.  
><strong>To Ceralyn, <strong>Yes, I have Sai accompanying Narumi. However, as you can and will see, a few changes have been made. Do hope you'll continue to enjoy that relationship.  
><strong>To Shuuwai, <strong> thank you for the review and the encouragement, they are greatly appreciated!  
><strong>To firehottie,<strong> Yep, as I told jayley, there will be chapters covering the period between fourteen and seventeen. Time skips will occur, but in smaller doses than in cannon. Mainly because there's just SO many possibilities for those years!  
><strong>To Zandamh, <strong>Yes, training will be included. There will be a heavier focus on that in the next chapter as this one was focused more on helping Narumi get over the initial nerves and horror created by Danzo's twisted little mind jutsu. Psychological repercussions are not to be underestimated you know.  
><strong>To Emma the Deadly, <strong>thank you so much for the review. It makes me happy that you enjoy the story so much. I hope you've enjoyed this last chapter, as I am in fact going to be ignoring the cannon trick of vanishing three years. Very excited to do so in fact (*w*).  
><strong>To yellowcardgirl13, <strong>Thank you very much for the compliment. It's quite flattering to have my story praised by someone so widely read in the sub-genre. While I can't really speak to whatever end, successful or not, that Danzo may yet come to, it is quite gratifying to find the villain so intensely disliked. I wasn't sure I could write him sneaky and conniving enough. Also, thank you for the support for Teruyoshi. He accepts the sentiment with much blushing and embarrassment, I assure you.  
><strong>To Deathgun, <strong>Thank you very much for the review. I really wasn't sure if I did the right thing flipping so many characters, but it really was _ever_ so tempting. It's very reassuring to me to hear that people enjoy the result. I hope you enjoy the upcoming chapters, and thank you again for the encouragement.  
><strong>To ChaosIdeals, <strong>I must admit, every time someone tells me how much they hate Danzo it rather makes me cackle. He is the villain, and it pleases me greatly to hear that he's suitably unlikable. Also, no one really needs to worry about late reviews. After all, I was the one who was latest with this last chapter, and I am most ashamed of myself. The reviews were all lovely and wonderfully timed to remind me to write.  
><strong>To the anonymous Guest, <strong>thank you for the review, and the suggestions. I will keep those in mind.  
><strong>To Wheelchairmaniac99,<strong> I hope you continue to enjoy the story. Romance will continue to be a more minor factor. I'm afraid I'm still very new to that genre, and generally prefer to write adventure-type stories, so the fic will remain largely in the adventure vein.

Explanations!

To start off with, the dynamic with Jiraya, Narumi, and Sai. Narumi is still very much freaked out by that dream she had, due in large part to subconscious suggestions planted in her mind by the ROOT Yamanaka who gave her the dream in the first place. As a result, she's terrified that she'll hurt her precious people, and clings to Sai, who has become, in her mind, the life line to being able to repress that destructive tendency. Danzo of course planned this out when he planted Sai. Jiraya is very wary of the ROOT girl, and tries to keep her and Narumi separated as much as possible. But as much as Narumi trusts Jiraya, she firmly believes that he doesn't understand how 'dangerous' she is to those around her. She also doesn't want to talk to him about it because she's ashamed. She thinks that if he actually understood, he'd want her to go to ROOT and learn from them too. There's also the factor that in the dream, none of her precious people blamed her, even when they were dying, so she's got the idea planted in her head that they trust her too much and she doesn't deserve it. Yep, ROOT royally screwed our lovable blonde over.

There is a mention in the fic of Jiraya reacting rather badly when he finds Narumi and Sai practicing 'meditation techniques'. He didn't really have a concrete reason for that, just a gut reaction wherein he felt very uneasy about letting that continue. As it happens, that was actually the product of his experience as a shinobi reacting to the situation. Sai was, in fact, following orders to teach Narumi techniques that would make her receptive to hypnotic suggestion, and thereby make her more susceptible to manipulation and control by ROOT. At this point, Sai is still very much a creature of Danzo. That may change later on, but for now, Jiraya is very right to be wary of her.

When Gaara walks in on Narumi and Sai, he's somewhat nervous because its the first time he's met up with a conscious Narumi since he tried to kill her under the influence of Shukaku, and he's still very tentative and shy about the whole 'friend' thing. Narumi can sense that to a certain extent, and being Narumi, wants to reassure him that she is definitely his friend and that is that. And this is where Sai makes her first big misstep in her attempts to 'handle' Narumi. She implies that Gaara is dangerous and insane within both their hearing. It was an attempt to endear herself by expressing concern in order to allow her to carry out her mission in regards to Narumi, but it backfires. Badly. The whole manipulation of Narumi thus far has been based on her protective instincts towards her precious people, of whom Gaara is one. So her trust in and liking for Sai immediately takes a huge blow. She takes steps to reassure Gaara that she doesn't agree with or care about Sai's opinion of him, and make her stance on the issue as clear as possible to the ROOT kunoichi. In doing so, she actually does herself an enormous favor without knowing it by taking herself away from the influence of someone intentionally trying to destabilize and control her, and into the company of someone who will help steady and ground her. Two birds, one stone, all that jazz.

Also, the reactions of the people of Suna are because of their previous interactions with Gaara. For them, the assumption that jinchuriki are blood-thirsty monsters has been tested and found true. So the idea of two of them bouncing around together is less than comforting. Narumi picks up on this to an extent, but deals with it an a similar manner to the way she deals with the people who hate her in Konoha. Gaara is aware of it, but is completely unbothered for the moment. Deep down, he feels he deserves it because he has terrorized his own village in the past. However, in the here and now, he has a friend who is not even remotely afraid of him, and he is happy enough in her company that nothing else can really bother him.

Narumi eventually talks to Gaara about the whole situation that developed after she woke up, because he's a jinchuriki and her friend, and she trusts him to give her good advice and understand why she's reacting the way she is. That is to say, she knows he'll take the threat she represents seriously without being afraid of her or hating her. Which is big at this point. She instinctively realizes how dangerous she could be if she truly lost control, and most of the people important to her don't see that. They just see the bouncy, happy, kunoichi side of her. Gaara himself is a little uncertain of how to go about comforting and advising her, but he does his best. Also, he, like Sasuke, is very very angry with Danzo. More so in fact, because he had a bad feeling about him ever since the old coot first showed up in Narumi's hospital room. So, Danzo gets added to Gaara's mental 'enemies' list. And while he may be gentler and more stable now thanks to Narumi, he's still Gaara. If he thought he could get away with it...well, let's just say Danzo would be introduced first-hand to a whole lot of single-minded sand.

I included a little discussion that revealed some of the ongoing politics in Suna because it's one of the things that has always bugged me in cannon. Yondaime kazekage killed by Orochimaru, twelve-year old Gaara starts changing, and poof, three years later is the Godaime? Not that I object to Gaara being Godaime at all, but there are problems. Either they left the seat of Kazekage suspiciously absent for a good three years before they appointed Gaara, which seems incredibly unlikely, or they appointed him in a more acceptable period of time. But that would mean they would appoint him at a time when almost no one trusted him, which is equally suspicious. I hope the idea I came up with to explain the situation isn't too wildly improbable or difficult to understand. But yeah, basically no matter which village your in, Councils have greedy bastards on them.

The dinner scene! I'm pretty sure the parts with Gaara and Narumi exclusively are self-explanatory. So, on to Teruyoshi! The boy actually heard that Narumi was in the village, and promptly ran to see her. Only to find that Gaara had already left with her. He spent about an hour chasing all over the village and just missing them, before bursting in on them in the restaurant. Where he was promptly horribly embarrassed and decided to try and pass the whole thing off as a coincidental meeting. Unfortunately, he's figured out by now that he likes her (still in the crush stage, but he's figured it out), and therefore isn't as smooth as he'd like. Which leads to Narumi being embarrassed and shy as well, only she has no idea why. Gaara, of course, is quite lovably dense when it comes to matters of the heart, and hasn't a clue what's up with either of them. He's actually very confused by it. (Note that Gaara has no romantic feelings for Narumi at all. He just thinks of her in a sister/friend sort of way).

Poor Gaara attempts to diffuse the odd situation, and only ends up making it worse. But Teruyoshi agrees to eat dinner with them. About then, Teruyoshi gets very irritated with himself, and with something of the mindset of a kamikaze pilot, does his best to conduct an ordinary conversation while acting as normally as possible (it about kills him to call her beautiful without turning red though). Fortunately, over the course of the meal they manage to overcome a lot of that awkwardness and act somewhat normally. Gaara, however, still picks up the odd vibes and is utterly mystified, the poor boy. Yamada-san, the mistress of the establishment, is not nearly so dense, and is greatly amused by the scene of 'young love'. Teruyoshi just about dies when she congratulates him. So overall, Narumi has a pretty good time of it in this chapter.

The boys, on the other hand, are driving themselves into exhaustion. Saburo's been living with Sasuke for a while now, and they've gotten used to each other. Saburo's utter hero-worship has worn off, and Sasuke is comfortable enough around Saburo to open up and relax around him. Both have been training until they drop, literally on some days. Sasuke has been working more intensively than ever with Kakashi. Saburo, on the other hand, decided that if Narumi was going to train with a Sannin, he might as well ask for such training as well. He's quite determined to not be the weak link of the team, and is very aware of his civilian heritage, so he wants to counterbalance that. Tsunade at first refused to train him, but Saburo was very persistent, and even when she got impatient and knocked him into walls he kept coming back. So eventually she tested his control, expecting him to utterly fail and go on his way. When she found out how good his control was (worse than cannon!Sakura, but still pretty impressive) she decided to take him on because he had 'the goods and the guts'. Then of course, she found out about that instinctive attack of his, and promptly had a field day. She's actually quite proud of her new apprentice, and though she'd never tell him, she thinks he has amazing potential.

It's quite normal now for both boys to drag themselves home completely exhausted, unless they've had a mission in which case they spar afterwards in one of the dojo's located in the Uchiha complex. Normally Sasuke will fix them something to eat, because he is used to cooking for himself. Saburo's attempts at the same have been rather spectacularly horrible though. Negative talent to such a degree that Sasuke has a wary respect for the lack of skills and classifies Saburo's cooking as a weapon of mass destruction. Kakashi has also taken to popping up around them frequently, mainly because he's feeling more over-protective since Danzo managed to do such damage to Narumi right under his nose. This is why neither boy is at all surprised when he's suddenly just there in the kitchen.

Also, both boys are still very upset about Narumi's leaving. Sasuke, however, has taken it hardest. He doesn't talk about it because he blames himself for failing to protect someone precious to him yet again. He may not know the details, but he gets that someone drove Narumi out of the village, and that she is in danger from both that person, and the akatsuki. He also realizes that he can't help or protect her the way Jiraya and Kakashi can. So he focuses all his energy and self-loathing over the incident into forcing himself to get strong enough that this can't ever happen again. He's very determined about it. It's actually quite similar to Kakashi's utter devotion to protecting his comrades after Obito's death. The only difference being, Sasuke still has a little bit of that darker, avenger mentality floating around, though it doesn't drive him the way it does in cannon. So basically, he may or may not have a vague idea that when he gets strong enough he's going to assassinate the bastard that split his team up. A.K.A. Danzo.

Last of all. The rest of the village, including the Konoha twelve, don't know about Narumi being gone yet. She's only been gone a couple weeks, and the people who notice her absence assume either that they're just missing her, or that she's out on a longer mission outside the village, like when she went to find Tsunade. However, it won't be much longer before the rest of Sasuke and Saburo's age group come around asking questions. Dun dun dun!


	20. Cultivating New Skills

Sasuke leaned heavily on his knees, and breathing hard. His shirt was stuck to his skin, and his hair plastered to his face. Shaking his head to fling his hair back off his face, he swiped the back of one wrist across his forehead, smearing beads of sweat into his bangs and blowing out hard.

Kakashi's voice, lazily amused with a hard edge, drifted across the training ground to grate across the boys ears.

"Tired, Sasuke-kun? Come, come, surely you're not done already?"

Lifting his gaze he fixed an intense glare on the silver-haired jounin standing across from him. His eyes ached, a sharp pain shooting from the back of them to lance deeply into his head, and he couldn't restrain the snarl that rose to his lips.

"I've been doing my best! I don't see the point, anyway! Genjutsu are illusions, good for a distraction but they aren't gonna be any good in a real battle! All the enemy has to do is disperse them and that's it!"

Kakashi's lone visible eyebrow rose slightly in an expression of patronizing amusement. His voice gently rebuking, the jounin lifted a single finger, switching it back and forth rhythmically.

"Now, Sasuke, you should know better than that. You're an Uchiha, after all. The sharingan has many abilities, but it's true art lies in genjutsu. If you master that art, it has far more use than mere distractions."

Sasuke swallowed hard, straightening and catching his breath. Leveling a slightly more steady glare at his teacher, he scowled.

"I don't see why I have to do this, anyway! Why not just focus on actual combat arts instead of trying to combine them with illusions? The sharingan has abilities there too. Isn't that how you use yours?"

The older shinobi shook his head slightly, voice level and reasonable.

"That's true, but as I'm not a member of the Uchiha clan I can't truly utilize the full potential of the sharingan. You, on the other hand, have no such excuse. Besides, being able to predict a blow won't help you if you're up against a stronger opponent, which is very likely since you're a genin. Even if you can see it coming, if your body cannot react in time, you're still going to get hurt."

Sasuke scowled darkly.

"Then training my combat abilities so that I can react still makes more sense!"

Ever patient, Kakashi shook his head again.

"You're still young, Sasuke. Your body can only take so much training and strengthening at this point. If you overdo it, you'll ruin your body and end your career as a shinobi. It's better to focus on genjutsu to trap and confuse your enemies at this point."

Sasuke shoved his hands deep in his pockets, still upset.

"I still don't see how genjutsu are gonna be any use in a real battle. They're weak techniques used by those who have no real combat ability!"

Kakashi snorted softly, his voice utterly dry.

"While I wouldn't presume to argue with the vast experience of your fourteen years, I believe Yuuhi Kurenai might object to that statement. And I assure you, that woman is more than capable of handing you your ass."

Scowling a little more deeply, Sasuke shook his head, voice sliding to a slightly pleading tone.

"Why can't we just work on ninjutsu or something?"

Kakashi looked at him for a long moment, a tinge of exasperation barely visible in his eye. Then he sighed and shook his head slightly, lifting one finger.

"Simple. You want team seven to remain as it is, don't you?"

Surprised out of his irritation, Sasuke nodded instantly.

"Of course!"

Dismissing the indignant edge in his students voice, the jounin continued unperturbed.

"Do you remember why you, Saburo, and Narumi were put on a team together in the first place?"

Slightly confused now, Sasuke nodded.

"To balance us out so that the teams weren't stacked. Narumi was worst in class, I was Rookie of the year, and Saburo had all the best academic scores."

Kakashi's eye curved up in a smile and he nodded, relaxing slightly as he explained things to his student.

"Yes, very true. And as you mature and move up in the ranks, keeping a team balanced remains a factor in the division of the squads. There are other factors as well, but if you boys want team seven to remain as it is, you'll have to work on skills that will balance out each others weaknesses. The Hokage won't want to keep a team together if they have a blinding weakness that puts all the members at risk."

Furrowing his brow and looking more solemn and concerned than a moment before, Sasuke shook his head slowly.

"Alright, I get that. But how does learning to fight and hold a genjutsu simultaneously help balance the team?"

Kakashi shrugged his shoulders easily.

"So far, neither of your teammates has demonstrated any particular ability for genjutsu. In fact, as far as I could tell, Narumi is dangerously vulnerable to them. She only picks up on a genjutsu if it's blindingly obvious, or if her senses detect a flaw."

Here Sasuke frowned, cocking his head in confusion.

"Her senses? I don't get it."

Kakashi waved a hand dismissively.

"That kid has sharper senses than most. Maybe even Inuzuka level. I didn't notice it myself until I caught her in a genjutsu once during training and she told me it smelled wrong. Point being, it's difficult for her to pick up on genjutsu, and she has a lot of difficulty dispersing them even when she does know they're there."

Tilting his head back thoughtfully, Kakashi appeared to address the sky.

"Saburo's a bit better. It doesn't take him as long to realize what's happened, and once he does, he has no difficulty dispersing the technique. However, it still takes him time to realize he's been caught before he disperses the jutsu."

Shrugging slightly, the single visible eye dropped back to Sasuke.

"Which means both your teammates are weak against genjutsu. Fortunately, as I just told you, a true master of the sharingan is a veritable genjutsu artist. Meaning you have the capability to cover for the weakness in the team."

Sasuke could never have said how the jounin managed it, but somehow he managed to convey a widening smile with a slight edge.

"Of course, that's only if you actually get down to business and train. Funny, I always figured Narumi for the short attention span. Though to be fair, she at least buckles down when it comes to training."

Irritation flared in the Uchiha at the jab to his pride, and he narrowed his eyes with a growl. Kakashi only loked more amused.

"Beware ye, the mighty Uchiha pride. It is surpassed only by that of the wrath of the squirrel."

Snarling at his teacher, the boy activated his sharingan, charging the older shinobi as lightning crackled across his fingers, miniature lightning bolts gathering at the tips of his fingers in a bastardized version of an early stage of chidori. Kakashi narrowed his visible eye, remaining motionless. Sasuke was already half-way into his strike when he realized that his teacher wasn't going to dodge.

Cursing wildly, the boy tried to pull the blow, but such a feat required far more skill and experience than any genin possessed. The Uchiha's eyes widened, and a lump of dread formed in his throat, obstructing his breath horribly as his arm sank into the jounin's solar plexus.

To his surprise, rather than being pierced in a spray of blood and gore, Kakashi's torso rippled like water, before firming and re-solidifying around his arm, holding him in place. Shocked, somewhat nauseated, and exceedingly unnerved by the resemblence to the unstable red and black world of tsukiyomi, Sasuke braced his other hand on Kakashi's arm and tried to yank himself free.

As he struggled against the oddly silent and still form of his teacher, the sharp edge of a kunai drifted to his throat, lightly tickling the thin skin as he froze. His jutsu long since dead, Sasuke held himself in place, not even twitching as the familiar lazy drawl spilled over his shoulder.

"What was it you were saying about genjutsu being useless in combat?"

Sasuke waited until the edge of the blade lifted away from his skin before attempting to reply. At the same time the kunai was withdrawn, Kakashi's form crumbled away from around his arm, losing shape and color as the pillar of earth melted back into the ground.

"What was that?"

Turning he faced his sensei's true form, finding Kakashi's black eye closed and the tomoe of his sharingan eye revolving slowly around the pupil. Stepping back and tucking the kunai back into his holster, Kakashi gave his pupil a slight smile.

"Genjutsu is an art that focuses on the subtle attack, rather than the overt. The best way to use it in combat is through misdirection. Building the illusion up so slowly around the opponent that they don't notice it until it's broken. Like what I just used on you."

Feeling somewhat chagrined, Sasuke nodded and straightened, turning to face his sensei with a half-sheepish expression that his Uchiha pride struggled manfully to quell. Kakashi's smile looked amused, and he shook his head slightly.

"Alright then, let's try this again."

Drawing in a deep breath, the boy nodded, activating his sharingan and fixing his eyes ahead of him. The assignment was simple enough. Build up a genjutsu trap while under attack. Only it was a lot harder to try to defend himself while also concentrating on weaving a genjutsu subtle enough to satisfy the jounin.

Kakashi vanished back into the surrounding foliage, and Sasuke settled into a combat stance in the center of the clearing, focusing on calling his chakra up and constructing a genjutsu on the area around the clearing where he stood. At the same time, all his senses were alert for any sign of attack from the surrounding forest. A rustle just behind his left shoulder was the only warning he got.

Dodging a volley of shuriken, he gritted his teeth, shaping the genjutsu so that it altered the number and position of trees Kakashi would perceive. Concentrating hard on holding the jutsu and increasing its scope so that it would interfere with Kakashi's senses and movement, he almost missed the chakra signature moving beneath him.

His eyes widened and he barely managed to leap away into the trees before two familiar hands erupted from the ground and snatched at where his ankles had just been. In his alarm at the near miss, Sasuke lost his hold on the genjutsu. Kakashi emerged from the ground just in time to see the distorted image of the forest around him waver and disperse, revealing the true foliage beneath the illusion.

"Well, the attempt at confusing my senses was admirable. Truly inspired even. However, it would be nice if you could hold it through being startled."

Sasuke stared impassively down from his spot on a branch overhanging the edge of hte clearing. His sharingan spun faster, and the dark-haired form the jounin had been watching dissolved away in a shower of leaves. The lone visible brow lifted slightly.

"Oh. Very nice."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes from his place hidden in the foliage, a smirk curling across his face. He could do this.

* * *

><p>Narumi shuffled her feet, looking around with curiosity. Gaara's home felt quite cozy with its curved walls, small rounded windows, and simple warmth. He and his brothers had lived here alone since the death of their father was discovered. Inwardly, Narumi shuddered at the thought that before that Orochimaru had been eeling around the three brothers home pretending to be their father.<p>

Wrenching her thoughts away from that particular mental trail, she returned her gaze to the slightly anxious looking red-head whose pale eyes were fixed intently on her. She got the sense that he was waiting for her verdict, so she smiled brightly, cocking her head playfully to one side.

"Nice place Gaara! All three of you live here, right?"

The Suna-nin nodded, a small, pleased smile tugging at the corners of his mouth as he leaned against the wall across the room from her.

"Yes. Teruyoshi and Kankuro have rooms on the first floor, but the second floor is all mine."

Whistling softly, the blonde swept her gaze around the room again, duly impressed by the size of her friends domain.

"Wow, that's pretty sweet."

Gaara shrugged modestly, and then gestured towards the two flat cushions that had been placed across from each other in the center of the room.

"Teruyoshi-aniki and Kankuro-nii-san are out training with Baki-sensei today, so we won't be interrupted. Are you still sure you want to do this?"

The kunoichi's lively face sobered, and brilliant azure met soft turquoise with a firm stare.

"I'm very sure. I need this Gaara."

The boy hesitated only a moment more, a slight frown creasing his brow and causing the kanji on his temple to wrinkle slightly.

"And Jiraya-san? Have you spoken to him of this?"

Narumi nodded, looking away.

"Yes, I talked to him about it while Sai was in the bath. He said as long as it didn't interfere with my training with him that he didn't mind."

Expression clearing slightly, Gaara moved forward to sink down onto the far cushion, crossing his legs beneath him easily. He'd removed his coat and gourd, and looked oddly relaxed as he sat barefoot in nothing but loose black pants and a steel mesh shirt.

"I see. Alright then. Come sit with me."

Narumi nodded, stepping up to the free cushion. Like her friend, she was dressed for comfort, having shed her jacket and ninja gear in the hallway of the hummock-shaped house that Gaara had escorted her to that morning.

Ero-sennin had been drilling her lately in exercises meant to increase her balance and flexibility, saying that kunoichi tended to have an advantage over shinobi in those areas. So when she sat, she folded herself down and tucked her feet up until she had situated herself in full lotus position. It wasn't a comfortable way to sit, but it helped train her bodies flexibility further.

Holding her back completely straight, she lifted her chin and nervously glanced over at Gaara. He looked a little surprised at the correctness of her posture, but didn't say anything to her about it. He studied her for a moment, and then spoke up in a conversational tone.

"How did you find your first night in Suna?"

Narumi blinked, startled. She'd expected him to start giving her instructions, not chat. But after a moment of confused silence, she answered his question.

"Fine, I suppose. It's much colder at night than I'm used to, and the wind here sounds different, but I've never seen so many stars before. Ero-sennin told me it's because cold nights are better for stargazing."

Gaara nodded, his expression thoughtful.

"Yes, he's right. Teruyoshi-aniki told me once that it is because the cold air is clearer."

The boys voice suddenly took on an edge of warmth and pride she'd never heard before, and his eyes lit up.

"The desert is beautiful at night you know. The sand reflects the light and almost shines."

Narumi smiled at him, understanding the pride he took in his home.

"Really? I've never really seen it. On the way here, we'd always be inside our tents by the time true dark fell. Trying to stay warm, you know? Hi no Kuni doesn't really get that cold unless it's winter."

Gaara hummed thoughtfully.

"I believe Teruyoshi-aniki remarked on those differences as well when we were in Konoha for the exams.

Narumi nodded, shoulders relaxing as they talked. Gaara's eyes suddenly lit up with curiosity, and he cocked his head at her questioningly.

"By the way, where is Sai-san? I know that Jiraya-san is spending the morning with the council, but I don't believe you mentioned where she was."

Narumi shrugged, frowning slightly.

"She said she was going to spend the morning in the guest quarters. I think she was working on a scroll of hers or something, but I'm not sure."

Gaara's frown grew a bit more pronounced, but then he shrugged it off and returned to lighter topics.

"Mistress Yamada seemed rather fond of you last night. You should visit her again while you're here."

Narumi giggled slightly, rubbing the back of her neck and beaming happily.

"You think? She reminds me of Teuchi-jii-san."

At Gaara's questioning look she waved a hand through the air.

"The old man back home who runs Ichiraku Ramen. Besides, Yamada-san seems like a nice person. She likes you."

Now it was Gaara's turn to blink in surprise, his gaze slowly turning skeptical. Narumi scowled playfully back at him, waving both hands so wildly for emphasis that the fact she didn't lose her balance and topple over was a tribute to Jiraya's training.

"I'm serious! She's a very nice lady, and when she looks at you and Teruyoshi, she smells affectionate. Like Ikuye-sensei."

For a long moment the two of them stared at each other, Gaara still vaguely bemused, and Narumi doing her very best to radiate sincerity. Gaara deserved to know that there were people in his village who didn't automatically assume he was a ravenous monster.

After several long moments, the pale-eyed shinobi shook his head and rolled his eyes gently at her, though his scent was more amused and shyly pleased than irritated.

"Alright, if you're relaxed now we should get to work."

Narumi's eyes widened, and she nearly reared back in surprise. After a moment, she shook herself and stuck her tongue out playfully at her companion.

"Nyah. You're just jealous of my nose!"

Gaara's eyes narrowed slightly in amusement, and he chuckled before straightening.

"First, focus on your breath. Draw it in slowly for a count of five, hold it for a count of five, and then let it out for a count of five. Keep it steady and hold the rhythm."

Narumi nodded, chest expanding as she drew in her breath, counting off steadily in her head as she followed his instructions. Silence filled the room, broken only by the sound of steady, synchronized breathing and the hiss of wind-borne sand against the glass of the window.

They continued in this pattern until Narumi was utterly relaxed, her mind calm and still, eyes half-hooded and wrists draped easily across her knees. The initial pins and needles sensation of the full lotus position had long since faded away, and she felt completely at ease.

Gaara spoke then, his voice smooth and low, managing to somehow blend with the sibilant murmur of the sand spraying against the glass.

"Now, I want you to clear your mind, and focus on your chakra. The color of it. The sensation of it. Concentrate on that."

Narumi drew in another slow breath, reaching for that familiar well of blue flames that dwelt deep in the center of her being. Finding it, she concentrated on the rippling of the energy twining through her body in slender, fiery paths.

Turning her gaze ever inward, she focused on the soft warmth, and the familiar power that glowed within her being, beautifully, brilliantly visible to her minds eye. The myriad shades of sky and ocean rose up, filling her to the brim and spilling over her consciousness in a steady, continuous flow that pulsed with the beat of her blood.

Gaara's voice wound through the murmur of power humming in her ears, so soft that it seemed to be no more than a ripple of meaning through the blue world she found herself enveloped in.

"Good. Follow the flow to your seal. The seal will have different chakra than yours, so it should be easy to find."

Humming deep in her throat, Narumi allowed the flow of her chakra to tug her down the paths of her coils until she reached it. As Gaara had told her, it was easy to find the seal. The familiar swirl with its scrolling rays glowed brightly above her own chakra circulatory system, like a stylized sun painted on the backs of her eyelids.

There were two different types of chakra in the seal. The dominant type was a shade of electric white-blue threaded with gold. That type hummed and pulsed in a stately swirl, spreading evenly through the seal and enveloping her in a sense of being protected.

The more suppressed chakra was different. The color felt like the rich red-gold of a sunset, and it pulsed with a merry, crackling warmth that sent gentle heat threading through her soothingly.

The two chakras combined in her seal felt welcoming and comforting in a way that Narumi had never experienced before. Holding still, she basked in that presence, and wondered how she could have ever missed the comfort of it when it had always been with her.

Happiness and peace filled her, bubbling up in her throat to physically manifest in a trilling purr that was almost musical. The seal seemed to react subtly as her own chakra swirled up against it, the almost familiar chakras that filled and powered it brushing against her own in a caress that was nearly affectionate.

The ever-soft voice of her fellow jinchuriki came to her again, a faint note of puzzlement running through his words despite the calm, even tone he used to instruct her.

"Sink past the seal. Go deeper, until you meet the bijuu. It will probably be frightening, but you have to face it. Remember the feel of your own chakra, and don't let the kyuubi corrupt it."

The burbling trill died in Narumi's throat, and she stilled. She didn't like to visit kyuubi, and she certainly didn't want to leave the affectionate warmth of the seal for the dank, menacing halls were the bijuu dwelt.

Reluctantly, almost tentatively, she extended into and past the seal. For a moment that encompassing gentleness engulfed her, suspending her in comforting shades of blue and ruddy gold. Then she was through the seal, and sinking down into darkness that concealed the dangerous, bubbling rust-colored chakra of her demon.

Darkness swallowed her as she descended towards that menacing glow, entirely different from the red-gold she'd found in the seal. Her sense of her own blue flames, and the steady heat of the seal vanished away, as did any sense of the outside world. She didn't think she'd be able to hear Gaara here, and for a moment, she felt an intense fear of being trapped forever in the flooded halls of kyuubi's cell.

Shaking that fear off, she focused on descending towards the heat of the bijuu's presence. She'd never let herself be afraid of anyone before and she wasn't about to start now. Kyuubi could just deal with it.

Suddenly she found herself standing ankle deep in water. The familiar dimly lit hall stretched out before her, and she seemed to be back in her own body. Blinking she looked around uneasily. Unlike the last time she'd been here, no roar or howl greeted her. Only the sound of heavy breathing reverberating down the corridor.

Setting her shoulders, Narumi drew in a deep breath and moved forward, the water splashing quietly under her feet as she headed to the cage where the great fox resided. Turning a corner, she stepped through an open doorway into the familiar wide chamber.

Kyuubi was curled behind the bars, all nine tails waving lazily through the air, scarlet gaze fixed intently on the slight figure of the kunoichi on the other side of the bars. Swallowing hard, Narumi stepped forward, voice quivering only slightly as she addressed her tennant.

"Hello Kyuubi."

The fox narrowed his eyes slightly, voice rumbling with an almost growl.

"**What do you want, Wenchling? It doesn't feel like you're dying again."**

Narumi winced slightly at the reminder of the last time she'd conversed with kyuubi, just before she'd lost control during the mission to save Sasuke. That was the time she'd burned Teruyoshi, and this whole mess had begun. Mastering herself as best she could, she forced her voice not to tremble.

"I wanted to...to talk to you about what happened last time."

One of the tails switched irritably, coiling down around kyuubi's body as the other eight continued to twine lazily around each other. A low chuckle reverberating through the chamber and causing faint ripples to spread out across the surface of the water lapping gently at her ankles.

"**Last time? You mean your latest suicidal stunt? What's to talk about? I gave you power, we crushed the bug, end of story."**

Shifting slightly, the fox eyed her with almost sleepy amusement, voice dry and sharp.

"**Really. Being imprisoned inside a weak wench who let herself be pushed that far by someone so weak. It's intolerable."**

Frowning indignantly up at the large creature locked safely on the other side of the bars that were the mental manifestation of the seal on her abdomen, she allowed a hint of reproof to enter her voice.

"Hey! That guy was a really strong opponent with a crazy kekkai genkai! It's not like he was some pushover!"

The fox snorted, voice still unusually lacking in malice.

"**Was there a point to this visit besides pointless bravado?"**

Narumi drew in a deep breath, resisting the urge to twist her fingers nervously together. Hesitating, she searched for the right words, wondering exactly what it was she wanted to say. After all, it wasn't as if she could just ask him not to lay hands on her comrades when he came out, now was it?

Before she could make up her mind exactly what to say, the fox turned his head fully to face her, body going oddly still.

"**Is this about what that sordid old war dog said to you?"**

For some reason, there was a scornful edge to the bijuu's tone, and when Narumi looked up she saw he'd given her his full attention. When she looked up at him, Kyuubi half rose to his feet, muscled shoulders and flanks rippling as his tails lashed wildly, voice dropping another register.

"**I see. You actually believed what that coot said, didn't you?"**

Narumi glared up at the creature towering over her, back stiffening as she shot back hotly.

"He wasn't wrong though, was he! Why shouldn't I listen to him?!"

The kyuubi growled at her, long ears tipping back in displeasure.

"**Fool girl! I saved your life!"**

Narumi gritted her teeth and planted her feet, fists clenching at her sides as she glared defiantly up at the increasingly angry bijuu.

"Yes, but you almost hurt the others! You...I _did_ hurt Teruyoshi! What if I kill one of my comrades next time? It's not worth the risk!"

The beast pressed his ears flat back to his skull, lip curling up in a snarl as he roared at her.

"**Risk?! There is risk in all life, fool kit! You have allowed a...a puling HUMAN to cow you!"**

Narumi flinched back uncertainly. She wanted to deny what he said, to say that she wasn't cowed by Danzo. The logical part of her insisted that everything she was doing was for the best. She was a danger after all. But the larger part of her whispered reproach. There was truth in Kyuubi's accusations, and it hurt.

The fox must have seen her hesitance, and for some reason it seemed to anger him. Drawing himself up to his full height, the bijuu bristled, snarling at her in a terrible voice.

"**Cowardly wench! Get out of my sight! GET OUT!"**

The accompanying blast of chakra knocked Narumi back several steps. Clapping her hands over her sensitive ears, she clenched her eyes shut, turned, and ran. Behind her she could hear the enraged, snarling howls of the bijuu locked within her, but she didn't stop or look back.

Bursting out of her trance-like state, Narumi yelped and tried to scramble backwards. Her legs were still locked in the lotus position, causing her to tumble backwards, landing hard enough to knock the breath from her lungs. Gaara was at her side in an instant, pale eyes concerned as she gasped for breath.

"Narumi? What is it? What's wrong?"

Shaking her head, the blonde clenched her eyes shut and sucked in a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart. For a moment the two of them sat there in silence, Gaara watching his kunoichi friend anxiously while Narumi tried to catch her breath.

"Confronting one's bijuu can be...terrifying."

The quiet words shook the blonde back to the present, and she shifted slightly to give her worried friend a half-smile. When she was positive her voice wouldn't waver, clearing her throat a couple of times before speaking.

"Don't worry about me Gaara. I'm just...a little shaken."

The other jinchuriki nodded sympathetically, reaching out to help her sit up. Taking his hand, she levered herself into a sitting position, untangling her legs and bracing her feet against the floor with a wince. Gaara looked her over carefully before speaking again.

"Making contact with Shukaku is often unpleasant, but it helps me to keep control of him. Unfortunately, it also makes me more vulnerable to his mental attacks, such as images or ideas that I would rather not be subjected to. Perhaps if you talked about what happened with kyuubi you would feel better?"

Narumi shook her head slightly with a frown.

"It's not like Kyuubi really did anything to hurt me. He just...he said some things I didn't want to hear. That's really all though.

Gaara looked surprised, looking her over almost uncertainly.

"You are certain you are alright?"

Narumi nodded again, a little more vigorously this time.

"Yes, I'm perfectly fine. But could we continue tomorrow? I know we haven't done much, but I'd like a break for a while."

Gaara cocked his head at her, sitting back on his heels in nearly perfect seiza style.

"Of course we will stop here if you wish. But what do you mean we haven't done much? We have been working all morning long."

Narumi stared at him, before her eyes jerked to the window. Instead of the clear, pale light of morning the blindingly hot noon-day desert sunlight streamed in through the window, painting the room in deep shadow.

The kunoichi stared blankly out the window before registering the meaning of what she was seeing. Her eyes widened and she scrambled to her feet with a muffled oath, causing Gaara to start in surprise, regarding her with wide eyes. Looking back at him in dismay, she yelped.

"I'm late! I was supposed to meet Ero-sennin for training!"

Bolting for the door, she slid out into the hall, followed closely by her friend. Reaching the stairs, she leapt down them four at a time, nearly free-falling to the first floor and landing lightly in a crouch before skidding towards the entryway where her coat and gear had been left.

Hopping from foot to foot she yanked on her sandals, reaching for her holster as she looked back at Gaara, who was watching her quietly from the stairs.

"Sorry about this Gaara, but I really have to go! If I'm lucky he might still be too busy with his research to have noticed I'm late yet."

The red-head furrowed his brow slightly, watching as she strapped on her holster and weapons pouch, tightening her hitae-ate and reaching for her coat.

"Research?"

Distractedly, the blonde opened her mouth to answer the implied question as she slung her jacket over her shoulders and reached for the door. Just then, the door swung open to reveal Kankuro and Teruyoshi standing on the other side.

Both boys looked in surprise at the harried Konoha kunoichi standing in the doorway. Narumi stared for a moment, eyes flickering between them as a flush rose to her cheeks. Letting out a small 'eep', she ducked her head and wove between the two of them with surprising ease, calling over her shoulder as she bolted down the street.

"I-I'll see you later Gaara!"

Not bothering to look back, she put her face down, willing the redness of her face to dissipate as quickly as possible. Ero-sennin would never let her hear the end of it if she were to up with a blush staining her cheeks. Shaking her head vigorously, she forced herself to calm down, and turned her feet towards the building where the three Konoha-nin were staying.

The guest quarters were across the village from Gaara's home, and Narumi had already learned that it was best to keep to the shadows of the covered walkways. She still wasn't sure how to feel about the fear and disgust she could see lurking in the gazes of the Suna villagers, so she always hurried through the building despite their cool air.

The desert sun was hot enough that she had tried to leave her jacket behind when Gaara came to fetch her that morning. He, however, had insisted that she continue to wear it in order to protect her skin from burning. There were disadvantages though. Already she could feel sweat beginning to trickle down her spine and stomach.

Shaking her head slightly, she lifted her chin and hurried through a building before ducking back out to another walkway and dodging a man in the long robes of a civilian. Wiping a hand across her forehead, she cast a glance at the empty, brightly lit spaces beyond the shadows of the walkways.

Teruyoshi had told her that the training grounds would be abandoned from noon until two in the afternoon to prevent ninja from sickening in the heat, but up to and after that period of time, Suna-nin would train all day in this sun.

Muttering under her breath about crazy Suna-nin, she wondered if it was always this hot. If it were, she'd have thought that ninja from Kaze no Kuni would have developed an immunity to Katon jutsu a long time ago.

Dodging another group of civilians who eyed her with thinly veiled suspicion, Narumi dodged into the walkway that led straight to the building where they had been quartered. Hurrying to the door, she slid inside the building and shed her shoes and gear, slipping out of her jacket to hang it beside the door.

Barefoot and much cooler without her jacket on, she went scampering up to the third floor, stopping outside the door just across from the stairs, and smoothing her shirt before opening it as quietly as possible.

She cringed sheepishly when she saw Jiraya sitting in the middle of the floor, scribbling quietly in that little black notebook he carried everywhere. Stepping into the room, she closed the door softly behind her, shuffling her feet a bit when the older shinobi glanced up.

"Another date with this suna kid you were telling me about last night?"

Narumi turned bright red and squawked indignantly.

"E-Ero-sennin! I already told you, it wasn't a date!"

The older shinobi lifted his brows, writing something down in his book though his eyes remained on her.

"Oh, is that so?"

Setting her jaw, she scowled at him indignantly.

"For the hundredth time, YES! It definitely wasn't a date!"

Humming, Jiraya dropped his eyes to the page in front of him, tapping the back of his pen against his teeth thoughtfully.

"Didn't you say had dinner with the boy last night?"

Narumi took a half-step back, confused.

"Well, yeah, but Gaara was-"

Jiraya spoke over her calmly, cutting her off.

"And didn't he walk you home afterwards?"

Narumi shook her head, stroking her braid nervously with one hand.

"He was just showing me the way here!"

Ignoring the protest, Jiraya lifted his eyes to her, lowering his pen and holding it poised just above the page, his voice maddeningly calm.

"I also recall over-hearing this same boy calling you 'beautiful' right before he left?"

Narumi lifted her free hand to wave feebly through the air.

"That...that's just...he's just teasing me...he always calls me..."

Jiraya's brows climbed towards his hairline, dark eyes knowing.

"Mm hmm."

Lowering his pen to the paper, he jotted something down, snapping the book shut with an air of finality. Narumi's blush turned painful and she dropped her face into her hands, her voice completely mortified.

"I was just training with Gaara. Training!"

Jiraya chuckled knowingly, and stood up, dusting off his coat and moving to sit against the wall with a horrifyingly satisfied look on his face.

"Saa, Na-ru-mi-chan! Shall we get to work?"

Muttering under her breath about perverted old geezers, Narumi shuffled out to the middle of the floor where the sannin had previously been seated.

The room was empty of any furnishings, the smooth hardwood floor making it obvious that this room was intended for training indoors. Jiraya had found it last night before she got back from dinner, and had decided it would be perfect for them to use until they took their leave of Sunagakure.

Drawing in a deep breath, Narumi slid into the basic starting stance that Jiraya had taught her, though rather than calling it a stance, it might be better to call it a starting position.

Lunging forward, she planted one foot, bending her knee deeply and leaning her torso forward until her kneecap nearly brushed her chest. Keeping her back straight, she flung the other leg out behind her at a slight angle so that she was low to the floor. Her arms came up, also bent, palms flat and facing outward with fingers slightly spread. One arm curved around in a loose guard in front of her throat, the back of her hand facing her cheek, while the other arm was flung back like her leg.

Overall it felt more like a dance move than a taijutsu stance, but she couldn't deny that the spherical motions that Jiraya had taught her before were very useful in battle. This style seemed to be based off that idea, focusing on constant motion, a shifting center of gravity, and nearly acrobatic control of ones body.

Jiraya eyed her for a moment, and then nodded, voice turning serious as he tucked his pen and book away into his vest.

"Alright, remember. Never stop moving or you'll lose your momentum. Keep the movement fluid, and don't worry about the speed. Go as slow as you need to."

Nodding, Narumi narrowed her eyes and let herself relax into the stance for a minute. When she felt ready, she sprang into motion, weaving from side to side, keeping her body loose and her eyes fixed on the wall across from her.

Falling back she whipped her leg up into a kick, spinning and sweeping her back leg up for a second kick so that she was momentarily airborne before throwing herself into a cartwheel and coming up in the same weaving motion as before.

Counting off the beat in her head, she continued spinning, kicking, striking, ducking, and dodging, never holding still and always shifting. Several times she nearly overbalanced and had to send a surge of chakra into her feet or hands to remain upright, but she kept at it, the only sound in the room her harsh breathing and the rhythmic thumping on the wood floor.

Normally she didn't like formal taijutsu. They always felt rigid and uncomfortable, and the teachers were usually finicky about little details that never seemed important to her. She'd always been better off just picking up what she could here and there, and using whatever worked at the time. This was different. The style was loose, fast-paced, and rhythmic, with a heavy focus on evasion and creative trickery that appealed to the prankster in her.

This was only the fifth time Jiraya had had her train like this, combining the basic movements, attacks, and evasions he'd already given her into a flowing sequence entirely of her own invention, and it was the first time she'd ever gone so long without falling or breaking out of the rhythm she set for herself.

Delighted at her own success, and the feel of her body spinning across the floor in the almost weightless mimicry of combat, she loosed a bright laugh. This taijutsu style was actually a lot of fun once she got used to it. Jiraya grinned back at her from his spot against the wall, shaking his head slightly.

"You're doing well. Just remember, this style isn't about beating up your opponent. It's a game, a dance. Try to hold a song in your hand and move with the music."

Nodding, Narumi whirled enthusiastically up into the air, both legs striking out at an imaginary opponent as she twisted to land on her hands and through herself into a back-handspring.

"Ne ne, Ero-sennin! When are you gonna spar with me?"

Jiraya snorted, leaning back against the wall a little further, his tone dismissive.

"Don't get ahead of yourself, kid! You've still got a long way to go."

Rolling forward into a sideways crouch, the kunoichi braced her palms on the floor, her body dipping forward until her torso hovered just above the wood, and her far leg shot out in a sweeping motion meant to hook an opponents foot out from beneath them.

"Ah, don't be so stingy Ero-sennin!"

Jiraya lifted a brow, voice taking on a mock indignant tone.

"Oi, brat! The great Jiraya-sama is taking the time to train you, and you say I'm stingy?!"

Vaulting to her feet, Narumi paused and stuck her tongue out impishly at her mentor. Talking to Jiraya almost always lightened her mood. The sannin narrowed his eyes and chuckled.

"You broke the rhythm! Start over."

Shooting him a look of great indignation the blonde moved back to the center of the floor and resumed her initial stance. The man eyed her for a moment before nodding.

"Begin."

* * *

><p>Saburo leaned his head back, gasping for air as he sprawled across the ground, lifting one hand to shade his eyes against the last rays of the setting sun. Across from him Tsunade was avidly examining the large, dull-eyed catfish she'd just had him practicing on. Muttering excitedly, the buxom woman ran her hands over the fish, honey-brown eyes flickering over the creature eagerly.<p>

"Incredible. Simply incredible. The physical damage is one thing, but you've somehow managed to attack both the physical body and the chakra circulatory system with the same attack at the same time! I've never seen anything like it. It's like a Hyuuga attack combined with chakra scalpels."

Glancing up at him, she eyed the exhausted, rosy-haired boy speculatively.

"Are you sure you're from completely civilian stock? No ninja anywhere in the family? Maybe a foreign nin from outside of Hi no Kuni or something?"

Shaking his head, Saburo raked his fingers absently through his hair, a habit he'd picked up from Sasuke in the last couple of months. Catching his breath, he sighed.

"No. My parents are proud of being from 'honest, working stock'. If we had any ninja in our line, I'd know."

Tsunade looked almost mournful, shaking her head and turning back to the very dead fish.

"Shame that. I'd almost say this was a kekkei genkai, but civilians don't carry such things."

Suddenly her gaze turned thoughtful and she glanced back at him for an instant.

"And you're sure you've never seen anyone do anything like this before? Read about an old jutsu that would do something similar?"

Shaking his head again, Saburo repeated what he'd been telling his shishou ever since she first found out about this strange attack he was apparently able to use at will.

"No, Shishou. I just sort of...did it...I don't really know how, and I wasn't trying to. It just happened."

Standing up, Tsunade came over and clapped him hard on the back, a menacingly cheerful grin on her face.

"Well, it's certainly a mystery! We'll have to try and figure that out at some point. But for now, we drink!"

Saburo's mouth dropped open and he stared at the woman.

"Drink?"

The grin turned devilish, and the woman grabbed Saburo's upper arm, yanking him to his feet and holding him just off the ground with an easy display of her monstrous strength.

"Of course! Sake, boy, sake! We're going to celebrate the use of the birth of your signature technique."

Horrified, Saburo flailed wildly, spluttering.

"Shishou! I'm...I'm not old enough to drink!"

Laughing uproariously, the Senju waved her free hand wildly.

"Nonsense! As an active member of the shinobi forces of Konohagakure you're a full adult, and eligible to drink, smoke, and gamble!"

Suddenly stopping, she glanced down at her student with a half-scowl.

"Though I don't want to hear of you going anywhere near those books of Jiraya's."

Frowning in confusion, the rosette stared up at the hokage.

"Jiraya-sama's?"

The brown eyes fixed on him took on the slightly wrathful glint that he sometimes noticed in the eyes of the kunoichi instructors at the academy when certain shinobi showed up for guest lectures.

"Hideous things with bright orange covers. Icha Icha."

Saburo's eyes widened in recognition, and he blushed hotly. That perverted book of Kakashi-sensei's?

"O-of course I...I would never...!"

Brightening instantly, Tsunade chuckled and roughed up his hair before frogmarching him towards the village.

"That's my student. Now, to the bar!"

Groaning aloud, Saburo let out a last despondent wail as they headed into the streets of the village.

"Couldn't we just train instead?"

* * *

><p>Ikuye shifted the stack of papers she carried, wrapping her arm more comfortably around them as she opened the door to her favorite coffee house. Stepping inside, she was greeted by a wash of richly coffee-scented air. Drawing a deep breath, she let out a long sigh, feeling the tense set of her shoulders relaxing.<p>

Rolling her neck slightly, she glanced around and headed for her usual booth in the back of the shop. Sliding into the plush seat of the booth, she dropped her papers onto the table, and settled into the softly lit booth with its warm, welcoming colors.

The shop was moderately busy, a testament to its popularity. While she waited for a waiter to see to come to the table, she unzipped her chuunin vest, laying it beside her on the bench seat, and smoothing out her navy blue dress.

Reaching up, she untied her hitae-ate, and pulled out the tie of her pony-tail, shaking her hair free and re-securing her hitae-ate. Now comfortable, she let out a weary sigh, and carded her hands through her thick brown tresses, leaning her forehead against the heels of her hands.

She loved her assignment as a chuunin instructor at the academy, and she really did love her students, but the days were many when only the promise of her nightly visit to this coffee house got her through.

Shaking her head slightly, she pictured the newest batch of academy students, who'd spent the better part of today running her and the other instructors ragged. Tiny six year olds, with unholy amounts of energy. So few of those would actually go on to become genin.

That line of thought inevitably drew her mind to the latest batch of genin, in particular one bright-haired girl who had become like a little sister to her. Smiling slightly at the memory of the cheerful child, she wondered absently how Narumi was getting along with her team.

She'd been horrified when Kakashi had entered the three genin in the chuunin exams, but all three had preformed far beyond her expectations, and she was honestly proud of them. Narumi and Saburo in particular, since both of them had been expected to fail from the beginning.

Of course, none of them would have advanced, but she knew that they'd all done well enough that they could probably expect to pass the next time they were entered. A polite voice spoke up from her side.

"May I take your order ma'am?"

Looking up with a grateful smile, Ikuye addressed him softly.

"Yes, I'd like a chai tea latte please."

Glancing down at the stack of papers in front of her, she ruefully corrected herself.

"A _large_ chai tea latte."

The young civilian nodded, writing down her order quickly on the pad he carried.

"I'll have that out in just a few minutes."

Turning, he headed for the counter with its glass case of pastries, leaving Ikuye alone in the quiet haven of her booth. Before she could set to work, the door of the shop opened again. Idly, she looked up to see who was coming in. To her surprise, the two ninja were familiar.

Shinako Aburame walked in, hood thrown back to reveal short, soft hair, head turned to look over her shoulder at her companion. Her hand was wrapped around Saburo Haruno's wrist, tugging him after her into the shop, and the exhausted rosette looked to be entirely engaged by the quiet girl speaking to him. Interested, Ikuye watched curiously as the two genin moved towards a window table.

"...so Tsunade-sama wanted to take you drinking?"

Saburo nodded sheepishly, and Ikuye could only just make out his reply.

"Yeah. I don't see why she likes that stuff so well though. It tastes awful, and makes you feel weird."

Ikuye didn't catch the rest of the conversation as the two teens sat down, talking softly. Shaking her head at them, an affectionate smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. Those two had always been among the quieter members of their academy class, and she was glad to see they were both doing well.

Feeling comforted by the appearance of her old students, she fanned her papers out in front of her, tucked her feet neatly up under her on the seat, and pulled out a red pen that she used to grade and mark papers before turning them back to her students.

The waiter returned shortly afterward, setting a large ceramic mug of sweet, creamy tea at her elbow with a murmur. Thanking him distractedly, Ikuye edged it a bit away from her papers, and left it to cool slightly as she leaned over her work.

She was engrossed in trying to make sense of one boys rather convoluted explanation of the concept of genjutsu and their use in interrogations when an overly cheerful voice beside her caused her to jump, stifling a small yelp of shock.

"Yo!"

Whipping around, hand instinctively going to her weapons pouch, she stared blankly up at the man standing beside her table. A tall, lean man with wild silver hair, a half mask, and an obnoxious orange book. Ikuye's eyes widened as she recognized the jounin.

"Kakashi-san! You startled me!"

The mans single visible eye glittered in amusement as he offered her a small smile.

"Ah? Sorry, sorry. Mind if I join you?"

The brunette blinked in surprise, unsure how to take that. Kakashi Hatake was well known and admired by the greater part of Konohas shinobi forces, despite his odd personality quirks. She was a mediocre chuunin who was perfectly content in the minor position she held as academy instructor. The only time they'd ever come into contact was when she'd objected to his entering Narumi's team in the chuunin exams.

Uncertain about what he could possibly want from her now, she nodded, gesturing uncertainly to the bench opposite her.

"Of course. Please do."

Nodding pleasantly to her, the jounin slid into the seat opposite her.

"Thank you very much."

As he sat down, the orange book caught Ikuye's eye. Flushing in embarrassment, she jerked her gaze back to her papers. Tucking a strand of hair back behind her ear, she picked up her tea and blew on it gently before taking a long sip. Kakashi noticed her discomfort, and after a moment of silence tucked his book away. The waiter had noticed the new addition to the booth, and drifted over with pad in hand.

"Welcome sir. May I take your order?"

The waiter glanced up as he spoke, stiffening as he realized that he was on Kakashi's blind side. Objectively speaking, Ikuye realized that it was probably for a civilian, even one who lived in a hidden village, to speak to someone whose face was almost entirely covered.

At the same time she couldn't help but feel a flash of irritation at the awkward atmosphere the fool boy created. Kakashi, however, took it in stride, merely turning his face until the youth could see his uncovered eye.

"I'll take a black coffee."

Startled, the waiter nodded vigorously, doing his best to remain calm and polite as he wrote something down.

"Of course, sir. I'll be right back with that."

Hurrying away, the boy left them alone. Ikuye watched him go, before glancing at her companion.

"I'm sorry about that."

Truthfully she wasn't sure what she was apologizing for. The kid hadn't reacted all that badly, he'd just been a bit startled. Kakashi himself hadn't seemed bothered by it at all, actually. But it seemed like the right thing to do despite all that. The jounin looked surprised by her apology, and then his gaze softened slightly.

"It's perfectly alright, Umino-sensei. I'm used to people being surprised. After all, even ninja don't usually hide this much of their face."

The kunoichi shrugged one shoulder, as the waiter brought back a mug of hot coffee before hurrying off to the next table.

"Please, call me Ikuye. Umino makes me feel old."

Chuckling softly, Kakashi inclined his head.

"Ikuye-san then."

Smiling back at him, Ikuye took another sip of her drink, glancing down at her papers and marking half points down beside one answer. Without taking her eyes from the paper, she addressed the man nursing his coffee.

"I wanted to apologize to you again."

Kakashi's voice took on a surprised undertone.

"I beg your pardon?"

The academy teacher cleared her throat, focusing intently on the papers in front of her.

"About the chuunin exams. I know I said this before, but...you were right. They were ready, and I should have trusted your assessment of that as their sensei."

There was a moment of silence before the silver-haired shinobi replied to her.

"Thank you. They did really well you know. Narumi was one of only two genin who made chuunin."

Ikuye's head shot up and she stared at him, fingers clenching hard around her pen, cracking the plastic case before she got enough control of herself to loosen her grip somewhat.

"Narumi made chuunin?"

Kakashi nodded, his voice proud.

"Yes. The only rookie to make it, though I think the Nara might have been promoted as well if the invasion hadn't screwed things up and prevented her fight taking place."

Ikuye stared blankly at him.

"That's..."

Kakashi frowned at her slightly.

"What's the matter, Ikuye-san? Are you alright?"

The brunette blinked, looking away from him quickly, trying to suppress the feelings of hurt and sudden lonliness washing through her. Why hadn't Narumi come to her? She would have thought the little blonde would have come bursting through her door to proudly parade her new vest the moment such a thing happened.

"Oh...I just thought she would have told me."

Kakashi watched her quietly for a minute, before shifting his gaze to his coffee.

"I wouldn't take it personally. She didn't really tell anyone, actually. The only reason I found out was because I'm her jounin-sensei. The team found out because the other boy who made chuunin told the Aburame girl, and she spilled the beans by congratulating Narumi. The boys were appalled that she hadn't said anything."

Ikuye eyed him, suddenly concerned.

"That doesn't sound like Narumi. She tries so hard to prove herself, I'd have thought she'd be proud that she was being acknowledged..."

Kakashi shrugged slightly.

"I think she was a little embarrassed about moving up when her teammates didn't actually. And then with everything that happened right afterwards, she didn't really have time to talk to anyone about the promotion."

The academy teacher frowned thoughtfully, absently circling a wrong answer on a test as her mind worked through the new information.

"That actually makes sense. Narumi is somewhat insecure when it comes to her relationships with others...if she thought being promoted might endanger her friendships with the other genin, she might want to keep it quiet..."

Shaking her head slightly, the woman sighed tiredly, massaging her temple with one hand and wondering ruefully how it was that the bright child managed to cause her so much worry and stress even after she'd successfully graduated from the academy and officially left the care of the young chuunin instructor.

"It seems I owe you yet another apology, Kakashi-san. Team seven was more ready than I ever thought possible for rookie genin."

The silence was awkward for a bit, with Kakashi watching her quietly while the brunette berated herself inwardly for not having enough faith in her favorite student. When things had stretched on long enough that it was beginning to become uncomfortable, the one-eyed jounin spoke up.

"You were trying to look out for the three of them. I appreciate that. If anything, I should thank you for helping me look out for my cute students."

Ikuye looked up in surprise, shaken from her self rebuke by the words. She had to fight not to twist her hair shyly around a finger, feeling more than a little bashful at the acknowledgment from the respected jounin.

"Habit, I'm afraid. I get so used to looking after them that I often forget that my students have grown into full ninja."

Kakashi cocked his head thoughtfully.

"I suppose that's only natural. After all, you have them from the time they're six until they leave the academy. That's several years."

The kunoichi shrugged, putting her pen down and cupping her mug in both hands.

"It's easy enough to get attached, I'm afraid. They're all so terribly sincere and earnest. Particularly the cheerful ones like Narumi and Saburo."

Kakashi met her gaze easily, and she was surprised to notice that the level of coffee in his cup had gone down despite the fact that his mask was still firmly in place.

"Yes, I imagine it is."

His gaze dropped to the red marked papers in front of her.

"Still working?"

Ikuye smiled ruefully, taking a sip of her tea, and setting it down to pick her pen back up.

"This? The nine-year-olds had an exam today, and I wanted to go ahead and get them graded tonight."

Kakashi whistled softly.

"Nine year olds. I can barely handle my students and they're already into their teens."

The brunette laughed, shaking her head.

"They're not that bad. Besides, you're pretty good with those three. Even Sasuke looks up to you, and he's one of the most...reserved...kids I've ever seen."

The jounin looked faintly pleased as he raised a hand to rub the back of his head.

"That's very kind of you to say..."

Sudden curiosity flooded her, and the kunoichi cocked her head at him, absently shifting a fully graded test to the pile of completed papers and shuffling a fresh one to the top of her pile.

"You know, I come here quite often for work like this. But I don't recall every seeing you in here before. Mind if I ask for the reason?"

Kakashi blinked, his fingers flexing around the handle of his mug.

"Maybe I just wanted a cup of coffee?"

As he spoke, his gaze flickered over his shoulder in the direction of the window table where a familiar pair of young ninja bent their heads together in quiet conversation. Ikuye followed his glance even as his eye re-settled on her. A slow smile spread across her face.

"Maybe. But that's not it, is it?"

Kakashi never twitched, his expression shifting to innocent curiosity without missing a beat. If she hadn't seen that one glance, she'd have thought she was imagining things. But she had seen it, so she just tilted her head and smiled knowingly at him.

"You're here because Saburo is, aren't you?"

There was a long moment of silence. Lone obsidian stared into soft brown, neither side backing down though both remained relaxed in their seats. Then Kakashi lifted a hand to rub the back of his head absently, his voice somewhat chagrined.

"Was I that obvious?"

Shaking her head slightly, Ikuye lifted her mug to sip from it, watching him from over the rim.

"No, not really. But I can tell. Are you worried about him?"

Kakashi half-shrugged, scrubbing a hand through his hair.

"Yes and no. There's no reason to think that anything will happen, but I can't help worrying. Especially since Narumi left to train with Jiraya-sama."

Ikuye started, lowering her mug to the table swiftly.

"Narumi's gone?"

Kakashi blinked, and then nodded.

"Sorry, I forget most people don't know yet since it effects my team so much. Jiraya-sama took Narumi as an apprentice, and she's gone with him on his travels. I'm afraid she's not going to be back for a very long time, and the boys are both taking it rather hard."

Inwardly reeling, Ikuye shook her head, voice soft.

"How long?"

Kakashi looked both sympathetic and frustrated.

"Three or four years."

Releasing her mug entirely, she sat back with wide eyes.

"Oh."

Kakashi shook his head slightly, voice strained.

"On top of that, Saburo's had some trouble with his family lately, so he's been staying with Sasuke at the Uchiha compound."

That got her attention. Her head snapped up so fast that her hair flew into the air in a dark spray, eyes intent on his face as she braced a hand on the table, leaning forward over it slightly. After all, a woman could only take so many impossibilities in one day.

"What?! Sasuke's letting him stay in the Uchiha compound?!"

Kakashi nodded, still nursing his coffee.

"I'm grateful for that at least. I don't think it'd be good for either of those boys to be alone right now, and they watch out for each other pretty well."

Shaking her head, Ikuye willed him to understand just what he'd so blithely declared.

"That's...that's impossible. The Uchiha compound is practically sacred ground for Sasuke! He's never let anyone in there if he could help it! He made one of the younger girls _cry_ once for asking him if she could see his house! He'd never..."

Speechless, she gestured futilely with her hands, frustrated with her inability to convey the magnitude of this. Kakashi eyed her hands dubiously before speaking slowly.

"But he has."

Ikuye shook her head, struggling for a comparison that he would understand.

"This...it's like...it's like Narumi suddenly showing up wearing green and acting completely seriously all the time! It's a huge change in basic attitudes. "

Kakashi lifted his brow, and shrugged.

"Maybe, but the change is all for the better as far as I can tell. It makes them easier to keep an eye on at least."

Settling his shoulders wearily against the backrest, the man let out a long breath that was just short of a sigh.

"I've been keeping a close eye on them since Narumi's departure, and they bear it well. But I'm sure they find me annoying at the very least, so I try to keep my appearances to a minimum."

Jerking his chin in a vague gesture towards the genin finishing up their pastries, he kept his eyes on her.

"Normally I leave them alone when they're in for the night. After all, the Uchiha compound has better security than almost anywhere in the village except the Hokage tower and the Hyuuga compound. That's where Sasuke is now."

Shaking his head slightly, his voice took on a faint tinge of exasperation.

"But Saburo was a bit late, so I got worried. Right now I'm just...just making sure he gets back to the compound safely."

Now massaging her temples, Ikuye spoke in a very soft voice, allowing her eyes to drift shut.

"That's very sweet of you. But supposing Saburo decides to stay out late? Surely you have other things to be doing. Wouldn't it be easier to just tell him to go back to the compound?"

She could hear the devil-may-care shrug in the jounin's voice when he answered her.

"I told you, I try to keep my appearances to a minimum. Besides, I don't need to. If he stays out too late, Sasuke'll get worried, which will make him irritated, and he'll end up coming out to drag Saburo back home by the hair. It's quite amusing actually."

The dark-eyed kunoichi opened one eye to fix the man with a vaguely amused stare, her voice incredibly dry.

"I'm sure it is. I take it you speak from experience?"

The man merely offered her a smile that crinkled his eye up into the now familiar half-moon shape, the corner of his eye momentarily creased with laugh lines. She had the distinct impression that if she could see the expression under the mask, it would be a cheshire-cat grin rather than the elegant, princely smile that most kunoichi liked to fantasize about.

Shaking her head at him in a slightly reproving manner, she slipped her vest back on, leaving it open over her dress as she gathered up her papers and laid the appropriate sum of money on the table beside her now cold tea.

"Well, I think that's enough excitement for me. I'll need a decent amount of sleep to work with the seven-year-olds tomorrow. We're starting them on intermediate kunai and shuriken work, and there's bound to be an accident of some sort."

Kakashi watched her in slight surprise, the cheeky smile having melted away from his face as she gathered up her things. Stepping out of the booth, she was stopped by a large, rough hand wrapping gently around her wrist.

"Ikuye-san? Thank you for listening to me tonight. It was...very kind of you."

Astonished, she looked back at him in silence for a moment, before tilting her head and smiling brightly at him. A warmth that was almost fondness bloomed inside her for this man who was so very dedicated to his students, three children she had watched grow from green academy entrants to skilled genin of the village.

"If you ever need someone to talk to, Kakashi-san, I come here every night after work. After all, I know very well what kind of mischief those three kids of yours get up to."

Kakashi looked a bit stunned for a minute. Then he shook his head, releasing her wrist and swirling the coffee in his mug idly.

"I'll do that. Good night, Ikuye-san."

Nodding to him quietly, she adjusted her hold on the half-graded stack of papers in her arms.

"Good night."

With that, she walked for the front of the shop, glancing sideways at the happily chattering genin to her left, one of whom had indirectly caused the entire odd conversation she'd just had. Shaking her head slightly at her students abilities to make mischief without even being aware of it, she quietly left the coffee house.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Hey guys! Here we are, the promised chapter that takes a peek at their training! I hope you all enjoyed it.

**To Legionary Prime, **Since I've had multiple people ask me about this and I'm pretty sure about how things are going in this regard, I suppose I might as well just come out and say it. The pairing here for Narumi is probably going to be Teruyoshi. I did have a different plan originally, but as I've said before, the girl has a mind of her own. Also, Teruyoshi himself is very persistent. What's an author to do? My apologies to those hoping for other pairings.  
><strong>To Deathgun, <strong>It's lovely to hear from you again! Yep, at this point Sai is a bit of a wildcard. She's still very much loyal to Danzo at this point, and is doing her very best to manipulate Narumi in any way possible. I can also promise you that there will be no killer mobs out for Jinchuriki blood in this fic. I hope you continue to enjoy the story.  
><strong>To ChaosIdeals,<strong> Not to worry, I can be quite a vengeful girl at times. I solemnly swear that Danzo will get his comeuppance, one way or another.  
><strong>To Wheelchairmaniac99, <strong>hope you enjoyed this chapter as well. A few more hints at romance, but I tried to keep the majority of them subtle. Please let me know what you thought of the training (^_^).  
><strong>To Emma the Deadly, <strong>Yes, Teruyoshi is very, very lucky that Jiraya is the only guy there with Narumi. He's still somewhat more hands off with her, not nearly as protective as the rest of team seven. Of course, temporary evasion doesn't mean eternal escape...he he he.  
><strong>To 10-iz4, <strong>hmmm...you have a good point about the bond between Sasuke and Narumi. I had thought of it as a best friend/brother/comrade thing, but I suppose it could be tweaked into romance. While I'm not sure I have the skill as a writer of romance to pull of that particular situation, and I personally think Narumi's more the type of girl to go whole hog one way or the other, I shall play with this idea. It is intriguing, and I thank you for bringing it to my attention!  
><strong>To sleepyasian,<strong> Thank you for the compliment! It makes me very happy to know that you guys think so highly of my work.  
><strong>To the anonymous Guest, <strong>thank you very much for the kind review! Yes, I'm pretty sure that the Narumi/Teruyoshi pairing is going to be final. I hope you continue to enjoy the story!  
><strong>To the second anonymous Guest, <strong>I'm sorry you feel that Narumi leaving the village is a break with character. Thinking about it, I can see how that objection could be made, so let me attempt to clarify. Narumi is quite resistant to direct mental attacks. However, that is with things that are obvious attacks on her by other people. Sakki and torture with Tsukiyomi are definitely things she can deal with. However, the ROOT Yamanaka didn't directly attack her. He just brought her own fear of herself, what she might do to the people precious to her, to the surface. He also meddled with her head to increase her gut reaction of fear and distrust of herself, but these aren't foreign ideas that have been implanted in her head. They are her own fears blown to greater and more immediate proportions. She believes Danzo because he tells her he is an old friend of the Sandaime, who she trusts utterly, and because he takes pains to try and behave like the Sandaime. Also, he at no point tells her she has to obey him or anything like that. He just tells her that he can 'help' her. She has no reason to distrust that. Also, the reason she doesn't go to Kakashi about it is the same reason she talked to Gaara instead of Jiraya. She's more than a little ashamed of this vulnerability to Kyuubi's influence, because in her mind, it validates the negative views of her held by most of the village. Plus, she's still a young teenager, so she doesn't always react in the most logical way.  
>If you still feel that this is an unforgivable break with character, then I'm afraid there's nothing more I can do. This is the story as I've written it. While I'm sorry that you don't like it, I'm not willing to change it. I hope you'll find that the many other stories available in the fandom will make up for your negative experience with mine.<p>

**Explanations!**

First of all, I want to make it clear that Sasuke isn't just trying to blow Kakashi's training off. It's just that he's always been more focused on the form of power that allows him to beat people up. Genjutsu isn't his idea of powerful techniques, and while his reasons for wanting to get stronger are different than they were in cannon, he still has an incredible drive to obtain power. He's also rather stubborn about it, which leaves poor Kakashi the job of prodding him into a willing state of mind for the training.

Narumi on the other hand, is both training and wrestling with the exacerbated issues that Danzo so kindly left for her. Gaara is currently teaching her how to make contact with Kyuubi because that's how he's been dealing with Shukaku. He sort of forces the bijuu back into the depths of his seal on a regular basis. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way with Narumi. However, Yondaime's seal doesn't work that way. (Speaking of which, points to those who can figure out whats up with the chakra in the seal!) Basically, what happens is that Narumi gets into a shouting match with Kyuubi. Unlike in cannon, Kyuubi is starting to grow somewhat fond of Narumi at this point, in a very distant you're-barely-tolerable-but-I'll-deal-with-it-because-I-am-Kyuubi-sama way. This is mainly because, as he's said before, he thinks she has a touch of vixen her. So it makes him angry when he finds out what's up with her at the moment because he feels a bit let down. Narumi gets upset and pulls out because she's just not in a good place to deal with that sort of thing at the moment, and because she kind of agrees with him. While she still feels like going on the training trip with Jiraya was the best thing she could do, she feels guilty at the same time. You know what they say, the truth hurts.

Then there's the scene when she firsts comes in on Jiraya. Long story short, he saw Teruyoshi walking her back, and proceeded to grill her about it when she came in. And tease her mercilessly. He's rather enjoying himself. Also, he's getting more and more attached to Narumi, particularly right now, because Sai has been off doing sneaky things ever since Narumi started spending Gaara. As such, she's not around as much, and Jiraya doesn't have to worry so much about keeping his guard up. Also, in case anyone's curious, the style of fighting he's teaching Narumi is based on the martial art Capoeira. It's a brazilian art that's a lot of fun to watch.

Saburo is, at this point, proving a very apt pupil for Tsunade. He has a bit more trouble with iryo-jutsu than cannon!Sakura, but the instinctive attack he's been using is quite enough to make up for that. Tsunade is over the moon with it, and probably sneaking off to try and replicate it when Shizune's not around to stop her. Being so excited about it, she decided to drag Saburo off to 'celebrate' immediately after practice, and managed to pour an entire cup of sake down him before he was rescued by Shinako, who was passing by and spotted him sitting next to Tsunade.

Also, I realize that Ikuye seems fairly clueless when it comes to what's been going with Narumi. That's because that she's not directly related to Narumi anymore, so no one sees any reason to alert her to any of this. If Narumi herself doesn't show up to tell her, she doesn't find out. And she wouldn't worry about Narumi not showing up for a while, because she knows that Narumi often gets caught up in the excitement of what's going on her and forgets about anything outside of immediate events. So of course, when Kakashi starts talking to her about what's been going on, she about has fits. He doesn't tell her everything because it's in his nature to keep things close to the vest when it comes to trouble involving people who are important to him. If Ikuye actually knew everything of what's happened, she'd be out in the streets howling for blood, or chasing Narumi down with the firm intent to smack sense into her. As it is, she's just very upset. You can bet that she'll be showing up at the Uchiha compound to check on the boys later though.

Kakashi, for his part, actually does need someone he can confide in about these kinds of things. There are the other jounin sensei of course, but while they're his friends, they also have teams of their own to worry about. Plus, they don't know his students or feel any real attachment to them anymore than they would with any other random genin kids from the village. Meaning that Kakashi doesn't really want to expose his students weaknesses or problems to them. The only reason he relaxes enough to talk to Ikuye about this is because he's seen from her actions that she really does care about all three of them and want what's best for them. While he can trust his other friends and comrades with his life, Ikuye is someone he can trust with his students vulnerabilities, and that's a good thing because the poor guy has been running himself ragged with worry. So you can probably expect to see those two talking over coffee more often in the future.

I think for the most part this chapter has been self-explanatory, so I think that should about cover it. If anyones confused about something I've missed, please to let me know and I shall attempt to cover it more thoroughly!


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